The Things We Remember
by noblecrescent
Summary: Everyone has closed chapters in their lives - memories & days are sealed forever. But with Clara Oswald & her mysterious imaginary friend Ally - who can only be seen by Clara & the new alien baby in the TARDIS - memories are re-opened. With mistrust against Clara, Minerva & the Doctor travel with her to discover who she really is along with her friend Ally. [5th in Monsoon Seasons]
1. A Girl & Her Friend

_**Author's Note:**_

 _Welcome to the fifth installment of my OC - Minerva's - story with the Doctor (currently 11th). This story will cover the entire 7th season of Doctor Who plus the 50th anniversary special and 11's regeneration episode. Fair warning I do disregard some show details to make it work for my story! As always, I recommend to any new readers you go back and read the previous four stories in order to learn and understand who Minerva is - as well as to catch the brief beginning of this story's largest arc in the 4th installment. You don't have to if you don't want to, but it is suggested! All stories remain on my story list beginning with Next Stop Everywhere._

 _My OC, Minerva Souza aka Kaeya Louvier, would look like the actress **Adela Noriega** with long, straight ginger hair and amber-brown eyes. She has two silver crescent moon marks on her wrists (on the same side of her palms). She is currently on her 2nd incarnation and is American. However, due to the Moontsay link (another reason to go back and read the previous stories) she is on her 4th appearance. _

_A new feature I thought would be fun is adding a song to cover the story's theme. For this story the song is: **Slipped Away by Avril Lavigne** **.**_

* * *

 _Another note, the following character's name (Citlally) is pronounced as 'Sit-lah-lee'/_

* * *

A young woman with medium-length brown hair and brown eyes laid in a hammock holding a dictaphone in which she recounted her day, "Day 363. The terror continues," she glanced at the door that was nailed, "Also, made another soufflé."

- _Very nearly-_

The woman playfully rolled her eyes, "Yes, Citlally, I could do without your sass," she sighed and continued with her descriptions for the day, "I've checked defences. They came again last night. It's still always at night."

 _-Maybe they're vampires-_

The woman, once again, rolled her eyes, "Sass, Citlally," her imaginary friend sure had some sass she would rather not deal with at times.

- _Don't forget it's your mum's birthday_ \- 'Citlally' spoke again to remind.

"Right," the woman nodded in agreement and spoke into the dictaphone, "Happy birthday, Mum. Citlally and I did make you a soufflé, but it was too beautiful to live.

There was a loud banging from the other side of the door followed by, "You will let us enter! We will enter! We are the Daleks, you will let us enter! Enter! ENTER! ENTER!"

"It's okay, Oswin, just ignore, just ignore," Citlally soothed the woman as the brunette screwed her eyes shut.

Oswin swallowed hard and nodded, "Just ignore, just ignore," she turned up the music she had ongoing in the background then covered her ears.

~ 0 ~

Minerva was in quite a distress as she and the Doctor, along with Amy and Rory, were surrounded by thousands of Daleks. Part of her was terrified of what they could do and another part was angry for their actions in the past. Even now as they, practically, begged for the Doctor to 'save them' she still couldn't quite believe they were somehow on a plan of peace (for the moment). It had all happened too fast. The Doctor had received some sort of message from a woman pleading for help, and the man being who he was, had to go see...that and the fact the woman had made the appointment place on SKARO, home of the Daleks. But the Daleks hadn't stopped there, they went to Earth and captured Amy and Rory through the same dalek puppets they'd been captured them selves.

All this just to be...saved?

The Doctor and Minerva had been led up to the prime minister Dalek's platform place, "Well?" the Time Lord raised an eyebrow, displeased with everything that had happened.

"What do you know of the Dalek Asylum?" the prime minister asked.

"According to legend, you have a dumping ground. A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong," the Doctor decided to play along and explain in the hopes of coming up with a safe way to escape.

"It's the Daleks even _you_ can control," Minerva spat with as much venom as she could, "Yet you don't kill them."

"It is offensive to us to extinguish such divine hatred," the prime minister said as if it were obvious.

"Offensive?" the Doctor scoffed.

"Does it surprise you to know the Daleks have a concept of beauty?"

The Doctor bent over to the Dalek with a glare, "I thought you'd run out of ways to make me sick, but hello again. You think hatred is beautiful?"

"Perhaps that is why we have never been able to kill you."

Minerva nearly lunged for them if the Doctor hadn't grabbed her to stop her. At the same time, the ground underneath Amy and Rory opened up to show a translucent floor that showed the view of a planet below.

The woman that had brought in Minerva and the Doctor went on to explain the situation, "The Asylum. It occupies the entire planet. Right to the core."

"How many Daleks are in there?" the Doctor asked as he and Minerva joined her by the edges of the clear floor.

"A count has not been made. Millions, certainly."

"All still alive?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"It has to be assumed. The Asylum is fully automated - supervision is not required."

"Armed?" Amy joined in on the questioning.

"The Daleks are always armed."

"What color?" Rory came up with and garnered the looks of everyone, "Sorry, there weren't any good questions left."

"This signal is being received from the very heart of the Asylum," the woman replied and a sample of the what was heard came over through the speakers: Oswin's music, Habernera.

"What is the noise?" the Daleks began together, "Explain! Explain!"

"It's me!" the Doctor exclaimed, beginning to play an air-triangle with his hands.

"Sorry what?" Rory looked at him along with others.

"It's me. Playing the triangle," the Doctor gestured but stopped, "OK, I got buried in the mix."

Minerva shook her head, "I hated this song. My dad used to play it all the time at home," the Doctor gave her a confused look, "My _human_ dad," she clarified and made everything make better sense.

"So, someone's transmitting this," the Doctor used the sonic on the transmitter from which the music was being relayed from, "Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?" and then realized, "He asked the Daleks..." he mumbled before speaking into the transmitter, "Hello? Hello, Carmen? Hello?"

~ 0 ~

Oswin jumped from her seat on the hammock, nearly falling from it. At the sound of laughter she turned her head to where Citlally 'was', "Shut up," she scolded and hurried to the controls.

"Come in, come in, come in, Carmen," the Doctor's voice echoed through the room.

Oswin plopped down on the chair and took the keyboard into hands, "Hello, yes, yes, sorry, do you read me?!"

"Yes, reading you loud and clear. Identify yourself and report your status."

"Hello! Are you real?" Oswin blinked, "Are you actually, properly real?"

- _That's a stupid question_ \- Citlally remarked.

Oswin glanced again at her imaginary friend, "Quiet," she hissed.

~ 0 ~

"Who are we speaking to, exactly?" Minerva asked slowly, already confused.

"Oswin Oswald, Junior Entertainment Manager, Starship Alaska. Current status - crashed and shipwrecked somewhere... not nice. Been here a year, rest of the crew missing. Provisions good, but keen to move on."

"Hold on, did you say a _year_?" Minerva blinked and looked at the Doctor, now equally confused, "And are you...under attack?"

"Some local life-forms, I've been keeping them out," Oswin answered rather nervously.

"Do you know what those life-forms are?" the Doctor curiously asked.

"I know a Dalek when I hear one, yeah."

"What have been doing, on your own, against the Daleks for a year?!"

~ 0 ~

"Making soufflés," Oswin glanced back at the messy kitchen.

- _Among ignoring the Daleks_ \- Citlally added but of course wasn't heard by others besides Oswin.

~ 0 ~

"Soufflés?! Against the Daleks?" the Doctor nearly gawked, "Where do you get the milk?"

"This conversation is irrelevant," the prime minister Dalek interrupted.

"No, it really isn't!" Minerva snapped, "Because clearly a Starliner's crashed into your Asylum, and someone's got in. And if someone can get in, then everything can get out... a tsunami of insane Daleks. That's something even you don't want that, even if you completely deserve it."

"The Asylum must be cleansed," Dalek supreme said at once.

"Then why is it still here?" the Doctor challenged, "You've got enough firepower on this ship, to blast it out of the sky."

"The Asylum force-field is impenetrable."

"Turn it off," Minerva ordered.

"It can only be turned off from within the Asylum," the trap-woman explained.

"So, then send a small task force that could sneak through a force-field," the Doctor shrugged and joined hands with Minerva to head down the ram away from them, "Send in a couple of Daleks," and then he stopped when he realized, "Oh! That's good. That's brilliant. You're all too scared to go down there!" he accused the Daleks, "Not one of you will go! So tell me - what do the Daleks do when they're too scared?"

"The Predator of the Daleks will be deployed," Dalek supreme said.

"You don't have a predator. And even if you did, why would they turn off a force-field for you?"

"Because you will have no other means of escape," the prime minister answered.

"May I clarify," the trap-woman stepped up to the Doctor and Minerva, "The Predator is the Daleks' word for you," she pointed at the Doctor.

"Me!?" the Time Lord cried, "Me!?"

"You will need this," the woman gestured as two more Dalek puppets arrived and snapped bands on the traveler's wrists.

"What the hell is this?" Minerva was ready to take it off for fear it would harm her and the baby.

"It will protect you from the Nano-cloud," the woman explained, "It won't do anything," she gestured to Minerva's stomach, knowing that was what upset Minerva.

The dalek puppets took the Doctor and Minerva by the arms back to where Amy and Rory were, the trap-woman coming behind them.

"The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission," she explained on the way, "You must find a way to deactivate the force-field from there."

A bright beam of light rushed up through the floor that would send them to the asylum planet.

"You're going to fire me at a planet?" the Doctor blinked and then felt horrified, "No, hold on, you're going to fire my _wife_ at a planet? And then we're supposed to magically fix the planet!?"

"In fairness, that is slightly your MO," Rory quietly added.

"Don't be fair to the Daleks when they're firing us at a planet," Minerva softly responded, "And, since we're asking questions," she glanced at the trap-woman, "What do you want with them?!" she nodded to the humans as they were being branded the nano-bands.

"It is known that the Doctor requires companions," Dalek supreme answered the question.

"I better not be on that list," Minerva muttered.

"Don't worry, we'll get through this I promise. Don't be scared," the Doctor whispered to her and the others.

"Um, actually, I think someone's pretty darn excited," Minerva cleared her throat and looked down at her stomach to where she felt a rash of repeated kicks.

The Doctor started chuckling, "That's my boy!" his last word echoed as he was pushed into the beam first.

"She's a _girl_!" Minerva shouted after him before being pushed into the beam next, Amy and Rory following right after her.

~ 0 ~

On a snow-covered planet, a periscope popped out from underground. It swiveled for a couple seconds then went down. It popped out from a couple feet away and did the same. It went like that for a couple more times before it found two bodies a several feet away from each other.

It was the Doctor who woke up first and saw the periscope near him, "Hey! What...?"

The Habernera started playing from the speakers. It was then that the Doctor heard Minerva stirring, "Someone turn that crap off," she ordered with a groan.

"Minerva!" the Doctor sat upright, his mind connecting back to the present, "Clever Girl!" he scrambled up to go help her, "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

"Yes, my _ears_!" Minerva made a face as she sat up and turned her head to the periscope, "Soufflé Girl turn that off!"

"Sorry, sorry, it's off," came Oswin's voice, "And you know, you could always call me Oswin, seeing as that's my name. You OK?"

"Don't know, I kinda like it," Minerva remarked in thought while the Doctor went to go study the persicope, "Souffle Girl, Clever Girl..."

"Oh, I like that one," Oswin cut in, "But I think I like the name 'Mins' better."

"Mins?" Minerva made a face, "No one's called me that one before."

"I'll be the first one, then," Oswin proudly declared, "Mins!"

"How are you doing that?" the Doctor tapped the glass of the persicope, pretty much ignoring whatever the two women had been conversing about, "This is Dalek technology."

"Well it's very easy to hack," Oswin sounded casual about it, as if it were an everyday thing.

The Doctor took out the sonic and used it on the periscope, "No, it isn't. Where are you?"

"Ship broke up when it hit. Somewhere underground, I think. You coming to get me?"

"Doctor!" they heard Amy from a distance, "Minerva!"

The periscope started sparking which meant the connection was failing, "Oi! Soufflé girl! Come back."

"Amy!" Minerva struggled to stand on her own but eventually did and just in time to greet Amy. Amy came along with a man that was clearly not Rory, "Where's Rory?"

"There was another beam," the man, Harvey, pointed to the left side, "There, over there!" the trio of travelers went off in the direction Harvey had pointed to, "Are you the rescue team?!" Harvey went after them.

~ 0 ~

Unfortunately, it seemed like Rory had fallen through some kind of hole that went underground. Harvey led the way back to his team's hatch and explained their situation, "We came down two days ago. There is 12 other escape pods. I don't know what happened to them," he bent down and went to open the hatch.

Meanwhile, Amy rubbed off some snow from the top of the hatch with her foot and found the name 'Alaska' written over it.

"Alaska? That's the same ship as Soufflé Girl," she looked at the alien couple.

"Right, but didn't she say she'd been here for a year?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, now suspicious of that Oswin woman.

Harvey was the first to climb down the ladder into the pod, "We should have some climbing rope long enough for that hole," he went over to the locker while the others came down.

"Won't you introduce us to your crew?" the Doctor glanced at the crew members sitting still in their chairs.

"Ah yeah, sorry. Guys, this is the Doctor, Minerva, and Amy," Harvey called but the crew remained motionless, "Guys?"

The Doctor patted the shoulder of one of the crew and it turned out to be a dried-out, mummified corpse.

"What the hell!?" Minerva cried at the realization of the entire members being dead.

The Doctor took out the sonic to scan them all, "They're dead. All of them."

"That's not possible. I just spoke to them," Harvey frowned, genuinely confused, "Two hours ago, we were doing engine repairs!"

The Doctor reached for a hood of a member and pulled it down to reveal skeletons, "You're sure about that, are you? Cos I'd say they've all been dead for a very long time."

"But...but they can't have been..."

"Well, they didn't get in that state in two hours," Amy gestured to the rest of the dead members.

"Oh, of course," Harvey blinked, "Stupid me."

"What? What is it?" Minerva looked at him, confused of his sudden smile.

"I died outside and the cold preserved my body. I forgot about dying," and just like that, a Dalek eyestalk grew out of his forehead and suddenly there was no more Harvey but instead a killer Dalek puppet that wanted to kill the travelers.

The Doctor snatched off a fire extinguisher and fired it on Harvey, "Minerva, the door!"

Minerva nodded and pushed the button open a door of a small closet. The Doctor forced in Harvey and locked him away.

"Explain!" Amy ordered at once, "That's what you're good at. How did he get all Daleked?"

"Because he wasn't wearing one of these," the Doctor held up his wrist that wore the band, "Oh-hoho! That's clever! The nano-cloud. Micro-organisms that automatically process any organic matter, living or dead, into a Dalek puppet," he patted one of the dead members, "Anything attacks this place, it automatically becomes part of the on-site security."

"Hold on..." Minerva blinked as her mind processed his words.

"Living or dead?" even Amy was realizing the big problem that was about to loom over them.

"These wrist-bands protect us," the Doctor moved around, still clueless, "The only thing stopping us going exactly..."

"Doctor, shut up!" Amy exclaimed, "Living or dead?!"

"Yes, exactly, living, or, or..." and the light bulb went off inside the Doctor's head, "...dead. Oh, dear," and he started climbing over the seats, kicking the bodies to pave a clear way for Minerva and Amy.

The two gingers hurriedly went after the Doctor as the bodies were becoming active. On the way to the door, Amy was grabbed by one of them. The Doctor reached out and pulled her inside the cockpit, shutting and locking the door. Both he and Amy leaned on the door, breathless while Minerva leaned across from them.

"Is it bad that I've _really_ missed this?" Amy looked at the two aliens with a bright smile.

"Absolutely," Minerva looked at her like she'd lost it.

"Good," Amy chuckled.

"'Unauthorised personnel may not enter the cockpit," came Oswin's voice through the speakers.

"Shut up!" the Doctor ordered.

- _Well someone's Mr. Grumpy_ \- Citlally remarked and made Oswin chuckle.

"Oh, Citlally, and that's a bad combo," Oswin said in the midst of laughter.

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "Who's Citlally? I thought you said it was just you that was trapped?"

"That's my imaginary friend, Citlally!" Oswin exclaimed, completely cheerful about it.

"...how old are you?" Minerva made a face while looking at the others.

"Shut up," Oswin frowned. She was quite used to the questions about her age when talking about her imaginary friend, but it still didn't make her one bit happy that because she still had an imaginary friend it somehow made her crazy.

"Give her a break, if she's been here an entire year on her own it's no surprise she created a friend for herself," Amy shrugged casually, knowing pretty well what happened to one when they were left stranded on an alien planet with no one but theirselves.

Oswin opened her mouth to clarify that Citlally had been an imaginary friend since she could remember, not just one she'd created since her crash, but when she looked at Citlally she saw her shake her head, - _They wouldn't understand_ \- Citlally shrugged, - _Let's just focus on the important thing, that chin!_ -

A laughter broke out from Oswin's lips and quickly confused the others in the cockpit, "What's so funny?" Minerva looked up.

"Citlally made a point on the chin," Oswin explained.

"What is wrong with my chin?!" the Doctor frowned.

"Well for starters, it's the fact you just automatically knew it was _you_ we were talking about," Oswin pointed out, "Careful, dear, you'll put someone's eye out," Amy fought not to laugh there and then, "I'm scanning you. You're on another of the escape pods from the Alaska, right? Same ship I was on."

"How can you hack into everything? Should be impossible, you're in a crashed ship!" the Doctor looked around the small room.

"Long story. Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?"

The Doctor swayed his head around and ended up looking at Minerva who instantly blushed, "Shut up," she crossed her arms and looked to the side, completely self-conscious. She was a bit touched he still found her attractive even in the state she was in. Frankly she felt like a blown up balloon.

"Check the floor," called Oswin, "I'm picking up a breach at floor level, there could be a way out. See you later!"

The Doctor and Amy cleared a spot at the center of the room and found a hatch. The Doctor bent down and looked at it closer, "Looks like it's been used already, and they tried to block it off behind them."

"Can't imagine why," Amy shrugged sarcastically.

"The lower part of the pod is buried, so this must go straight down into the Asylum."

"Where Rory is?"

"Speaking of Rory..." Minerva stepped forwards with a hand on a hip, letting everyone know it was serious time, "Anything you want to share with us, Amelia?"

Amy rolled her eyes, "Are we going to do this now?!"

"What the hell happened?" Minerva skipped straight to the point, "Christmas time, everyone was happy, Ponds were together."

"We split up," Amy looked around, clearly wanting to avoid the topic, "What can you do?"

The Doctor looked up from the hatch, serious as Minerva, "What _can_ we do? "

"Nothing!" Amy exclaimed then sighed, "It's not one of those things you can fix like you fix your bow tie. Don't give me those big wet eyes, raggedy man. It's life. Just life. That thing that goes on when you two are not there."

"This is just...wrong," Minerva pointed, "And you're wrong, we can fix it. You'll see."

Before Amy could respond, the Doctor opened the hatch and allowed them a view of a deep hole with a ladder hanging down. Minerva stepped closer and peered down, "Someone else has already been here."

"So let's go find them," the Doctor stood straight, not too pleased.

The trio were startled when a bang on the door rattled. They looked at the screen beside the door that showed the other room. The undead bodies were standing in front of the screen from the other side, one of them banging something on the door.

"What's that?" Amy pointed to the thing that didn't look so clear yet.

"One of these," the Doctor blinked as he gestured to his wrist, "Where'd they get it?" he quickly looked at Minerva's wrist and came to the relief to see her completely fine. Unlike him, she could very well be affected by the invisible microorganisms.

"They got it from me!" Amy cried as she looked at her bare wrist, "What's going to happen to me? Seriously, tell me, what?"

"Are they teasing us?" Minerva raised an eyebrow as she looked at the screen to where the corpse holding the band was seemingly waving at it, "Oh they're so lucky they're dead cos I would've killed them for that."

With a huff from the ginger, the Doctor forced her to let it go as there was nothing to do and just get climbing down the ladder. He went down first, of course, in case something surprised them below. Just as they were nearing the end, Amy began to talk...again.

"So, tell me. What's going to happen to me?" she glanced down at the Doctor then up at Minerva, "And don't lie, cos I know when you're lying to me and I will definitely fall on you."

"Ha, can't do that to meee," Minerva sing-sang as a tease.

The Doctor sighed and just answered Amy for the sake of it, "The air all around is full of micro-machines, robots the size of molecules, nanogenes. Now that you're unprotected, you're being... re-written."

One by one, the trio stepped off the ladder into a dark corridor. Amy took a pause as she looked at her bare wrists, "So, what happens to me? I get one of those things sticking out my head?"

"Physical changes come later," the Doctor said passively as they started down the corridor.

"What comes first, how does it start?"

"With your mind. Your feelings, your memories and I'm sorry, but it's started already."

Amy blinked, "How do you know?"

Minerva sighed, struggling to be nice about it, "Amy, we've had the same conversation four times already."

"OK. Scared now," Amy concluded with wide eyes.

"Well hang onto scared. Scared isn't Dalek," the Doctor hugged her in comfort.

A door in front of them slid open, allowing a new room on the other side. Minerva peered inside and saw no Daleks but quickly retracted at the sound of them.

"Okay then," the Doctor yanked her completely back and, thankfully, the doors shut off the room, "Don't open this door, got it Clever Girl?"

"Oh I wasn't planning on it, believe me," Minerva shook her head.

"Oswin?! Oswin, can you hear me?!" the Doctor called to the woman, hoping the speakers would be active in the corridors as well.

On the other side, Oswin was there and working along with them, "Hello, the Chin!" she greeted, "I have visual on you!"

"Why don't we have visual on you?" Minerva wondered, "Why can't we ever see you?"

"Limited power," Oswin shrugged as she looked around.

- _And bad hair day_ \- Citlally added.

Oswin chuckled and touched her hair, "Yeah, that too."

The Doctor frowned, "What?"

"Citlally said something, don't worry," Oswin dismissed it and missed the odd glances between the Doctor and Minerva. Still, as Amy said, if Oswin had been alone for an entire year it was no surprise she created a companion, "There's a door to your left, open it," Oswin instructed and the Doctor did, "Going to send you a map to that screen. I've put your little friend somewhere safe, I can get you to him."

"Oh, you'be found Rory?" Minerva asked with relief.

"I call him Nina," Oswin shared, "It's a personal thing - hush now."

"How many Daleks directly ahead of us, right now?" the Doctor seriously asked.

"10, 20, hard to say. Some of them are catatonic, but they do have firepower."

"So how do we get past them?"

"Amy!" Minerva let out a cry as she saw the human ginger in another room.

She and the Doctor rushed to go get her but found the Daleks were nearby, still 'sleeping' but still dangerous. However, Amy didn't seem to notice as she was in some sort of trance.

"Shhh. It's OK. It's just people in here," she motioned to the Daleks, "It's just people."

"Amy. It's the nano-cloud, it's altering your perception,"the Doctor urgently said, "Look again, look again - those aren't people," Amy did so and realized they were completely correct.

"Amy, come back here, _now_ ," Minerva hissed and motioned for the ginger to hurry back to them.

Once Amy had returned the three made a run for it, back to the ladder. When they got there the ladder was rattling as the undead bodies were coming down.

"They're coming down," Amy looked up in horror.

"Ah, yes, they are!" the Doctor agreed and turned them back for the room only to see a Dalek coming out.

"Intruder!"

"This way!" Minerva went off into a side niche door.

There, they hid as the Dalek came for them, "Intruder! Intruder!" it fired but nothing happened.

Curious, the Doctor stepped out and glanced at the Dalek, "It's damaged."

"How do we get rid of it?" Minerva came out but the Doctor motioned for her to stay there.

"Identify me," he ordered the Dalek, "Access your files, who am I? Come on, who's your Daddy?"

Minerva sighed, "Did you really just say that?"

"You... are... the Predator," the Dalek answered slowly and distortedly.

"Access your standing orders concerning the Predator."

"The Predator must be destroyed."

"And how are you going to do that?! Dalek without a gun - you're a tricycle with a roof!" the Doctor scoffed, "How are you going to destroy me?!"

"Self-destruct initiated," the Dalek announced and quickly the Doctor used his sonic on it.

"What's it doing!?" Amy exclaimed in terror.

"It's using its last weapon," Minerva stepped forwards, "It's going to blow itself up and us with it."

"Self-destruct cannot be countermanded," the Dalek said as the Doctor opened its lid and used the sonic.

"I'm not looking for a countermand, dear," the Doctor remarked with a smirk as he let the lid close shut, "I'm looking for reverse."

The Dalek went backwards into the other room where it exploded and with it the rest of the Daleks. A distraught Rory nearby felt the explosion with the rock and hurried back to its origin, all the meanwhile calling to Oswin for an explanation.

"Oswin?! What happened?! Who killed all the Daleks?"

"Who do you think?" the Doctor called as he entered carrying Amy and Minerva beside him.

"Don't get cocky," Minerva warned, the last they needed was for him to over-compensate.

They hurried to get Amy somewhere safe (for the moment) and thankfully the Doctor found a teleportation which served just right.

"Will sleeping help her? Slow down the process?" Rory asked in concern after hearing Amy's band had been stolen.

"You'd better hope so. Because pretty soon, she's going to try and kill you," Oswin spoke up through the speakers.

Rory relaxed only slightly as Amy began to wake up, "Amy?"

"Ow," the ginger groaned.

"Amy, you're still with us," Rory leaned down and stroked her head, "Amy, it's me, do you remember me?" his answer was a slap on the face, "She remembers me. "

The Doctor smiled, "Same old Amy."

"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek?" Oswin asked, "Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?"

"Well! Somebody's never been to Scotland," Amy scoffed.

The Doctor looked up at as he spoke to Oswin, "What about you though, Oswin? How come you're OK? Why hasn't the nano-cloud converted you?"

Oswin rolled her eyes, "I mentioned the genius thing, yeah?"

- _You're sounding conceited_ \- Citlally warned her.

"I'm shielded in here," Oswin settled with a sigh. Sometimes Citlally acted more like a mother than a friend!

"Clever of you," Minerva remarked, impressed if it was actually true.

"Now this place - the Daleks said it was fully automated," the Doctor looked around the room, "But look at it, it's a wreck."

"Well, I've had nearly a year to mess with them and not a lot else to do," Oswin pointed out.

"Except come up with imaginary friends," mumbled Amy as she sat upright.

"I wouldn't talk, Amelia Pond," Minerva shot her a look, "I seem to recall a little girl that had plenty of imaginary friends-"

"I get it," Amy rolled her eyes and looked to the side.

"Now, a junior entertainment manager, hiding out in a wrecked ship... hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the universe has ever seen," the Doctor relayed his information, "But you know what really gets me about you, Oswin? The soufflés! Where do you get the milk for the soufflés? Seriously, is no one else wondering about that?"

"No," Rory answered, "Frankly, no. Twice."

"I wonder about it," Minerva raised a hand, making the Doctor beam.

"That's why I married you," he pointed at her, causing her to laugh.

"So, Doctor, Minerva," Oswin cut into the moment, "I've been looking you two up."

"I don't have a twitter," Minerva passively remarked with a face.

"No, but you have a kingdom under your rule," Oswin informed, sounding impressed, "Nice."

"Thanks," Minerva smiled.

"And you, Doctor, why do the Daleks call you the Predator?"

"I'm not a predator, just a man with a plan," the Doctor shrugged.

"You've got a plan?"

"We're all ears," Rory called.

"There's a nose joke going, if anyone wants to pick that one off!" Amy exclaimed afterwards.

"In no particular order," the Doctor began, "We need to neutralize all the Daleks in this asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet, and fix Rory and Amy's marriage..."

"OK, I'm counting three lost causes, anyone else?" Amy pretended to look about and ignored Rory's frustrated leave.

"Oswin, there's a Dalek ship in orbit," the Doctor ignored Amy's comment.

"Yeah, got it on the sensors."

"The Asylum has a force-field. The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn it off. Soon as I do, they'll burn this world and us with it. So, Oswin, my question is this. How fast can you drop the force-field?"

"Pretty fast. But why would I?"

"Clearly for the telelport, Oswin, do keep up," Minerva gestured to the teleportation Amy was still on and made the ginger look down with slightly widen eyes.

"It's internal use only," Oswin clarified.

"I can boost the power, though," the Doctor knelt down in front of the teleportation and studied it, "Once the force-field is down, and we can use this to beam us right off this planet."

"But you said, when the force-field is down, the Daleks will blow us up," Rory felt like reminding him of the detail just in case he'd forgotten that among everything else.

"We'll just have to be quick," Minerva shrugged, not at all troubled.

"Fine, we'll be quick, but where do we beam to?" Amy raised an eyebrow, already half guessing the answer.

"The only place within range. The Dalek ship," the Doctor shrugged.

"Where they exterminate us on the spot."

Rory frowned, "This is the kind of escape plan where you survive four seconds longer?"

"Rory, are you new? That's how _all_ his plans work," Minerva crossed her arms.

The Doctor had to agree and so moved on, "Oswin! How fast can you drop the force-field?"

"I can do it from here," she replied, "As soon as you come and get me."

"Why don't you just drop the force field and come to us?" Minerva wondered, thinking that would save them a lot of time.

"There's enough power in that teleport for one go. Why would you wait for me?" Oswin sounded troubled and frankly in disbelief.

"Why wouldn't we?"

"No idea, never met you. Sending you a map so you can come get me."

"This place is crawling with Daleks," Rory reminded once again.

"Yeah. Kind of why I'm anxious to leave. Come up and see me some time."

Rory moved to where the Doctor and Minerva had gone to and spoke in a hushed voice, "So? Are we going to go get her?"

"I don't think that we have a choice," the Doctor shrugged.

~ 0 ~

Oswin leaned back on her chair with a big smile on her face, "We're leaving Citlally, we're finally leaving," she whispered in utter joy.

Citlally placed a hand on Oswin's shoulder and smiled back, - _Good for you, Oswin_ -

~ 0 ~

"Ok, soon as the force-field is down, the Daleks will attack. If it gets too explodey-wodey in here, you go without me, OK?" the Doctor handed the teleport control to Minerva.

"Ha, you wish," Minerva handed over the control to Rory, disappointing the Doctor, "And don't give me that look, Martian. I am not letting you go on your own to greet some stranger woman. I'm coming."

"But-" the Doctor tried to make a compelling argument but Minerva covered his mouth and looked at Rory, "Like he said, if it gets bad just go without us."

"And leave you to die?" Rory raised an eyebrow, not fond of the idea.

"I wouldn't worry about us," Minerva lowered her hand from the Doctor, "You'll be beaming up to a Dalek ship to get exterminated."

"Minerva, I swear," the Doctor sighed and went to the teleport platform to get the wires ready.

"Fair point, love this plan," Rory followed him with Minerva, "What about Amy?"

"Keep her remembering, keep her focused, that'll hold back the conversion," Minerva explained, "And add a little making up that'll fix the marriage."

"Pass," Amy called, "What can I do? And I mean seriously," she warned for them to stay off the marriage topic.

"You heard what she said. They're subtracting love. Don't let them," the Doctor said before taking off, hoping Minerva would change her mind and stay back but two seconds later she was at his side.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was slightly ahead of Minerva in the corridors and Minerva felt like it was an attempt to avoid her, making her feel bad in all honesty, "Are you mad at me?" she quietly asked him, partly quiet for fear of his answer and partly because they could hear Daleks not too far away. The Doctor glanced back at her silently, "Cos I'm here?" Minerva continued and gestured to her current spot.

"I'm not mad," the Doctor clarified and turned back for her, "Upset that you're in more danger, yeah, but not mad."

"I'm not trying to put myself in danger, I promise. I just...It's gonna sound corny," she warned sheepishly, "I feel safer when...I'm with _you_."

Well, at that, the Doctor felt like he couldn't continue being upset, "I absolutely love that you feel like that," he reached for her hand and held it tight, "There's just moments where I feel like _I'm_ putting you in danger. And now it gets worse because our baby is in this."

"Well I'm sure she would agree that it's safer with you than anywhere else," Minerva stepped forwards, taking his other hand, "We love our Martian."

Of course the Doctor was going to let it go after hearing that. It wasn't even for being conceited or smug, he was just happy to hear that his wife felt safe with him, and honestly he couldn't wait to hear what his baby had to say on the matter. Would he/she feel protected as well?

"So are we okay now?" Minerva asked after a moment of silence had passed by between them.

The Doctor stopped his thoughts and smiled down at her, "Yes," he answered and gently kissed her lips. He let go of one of her hands and held onto the other as they continued their way down the dark corridors.

~ 0 ~

"Are we almost there? My feet are killing me," Minerva felt like a child when she made those complaints she made but she couldn't help them.

"You're almost there," came Oswin's voice through the speakers.

~ 0 ~

Oswin was clearing up a couple of things in the kitchen, more like picking out things she would want to take back home - well, if she even had a home anymore. Her parents had both died early in her life and so she lived alone in a small flat, her and Citlally anyways. But Oswin was pretty sure that after a year the landlord probably re-rented it to someone else who actually paid rent. Still, in the end, all she wanted to do was go home.

"So your feet can almost rest," Oswin said in amusement.

~ 0 ~

"You have no idea how good that sounds," Minerva sighed.

"Out of curiosity, what are you naming your kid?"

Minerva opened her mouth...only to realize...she _didn't know_. She looked at the Doctor in question and saw he was going through the same reaction. "I don't...I don't know," Minerva finally answered.

"You don't know?" Oswin sounded surprised, "Blimey, I thought that was like the first thing you guys did."

"Well we've spent most of our time arguing if it's going to be a boy or a girl," the Doctor realized their mistake, "So we haven't actually _considered_ names..."

- _They do know there's tests for that, right?_ \- Citlally asked Oswin in genuine curiosity.

"Citlally would like to inform you that there are tests to figure out what your baby's going to be," Oswin informed the couple.

"We want to be surprised," Minerva huffed, "But I guess we really should start thinking," she glanced at the Doctor, "Cos I have no clue..."

"Well, first, I'm afraid you're going to have to go through the Dalek's intensive care," Oswin regretted to tell, "You're about 20 feet away now, but be careful."

And so, when the shut door in front of the pair opened, they slowly walked inside. Inside were Daleks chained up in stalls/cells, some not, and were all oddly quiet.

"And dare I ask what makes these so special?" Minerva was looking around intently for anything that might pop up.

"Dunno," answered Oswin, "Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon. Kembel. Aridius. Vulcan. Exxilon. Ringing any bells?"

"All of them," the Doctor said grimly.

"Yeah? How?"

"These are the Daleks who survived _me_."

The Daleks suddenly started awakening, and of course their first word being, "Doc... tor... Doc... tor... Doc... tor... Doctor..."

"That's weird. Those ones don't usually wake up for anything," Oswin said in surprise.

"Special visitor and all," Minerva said before she was yanked to a door across the room.

The Doctor had pulled out the sonic to get the door opened, but, "OK, door, but it won't open. You can't be far away though..."

"Hang on, not quite sure," Oswin was working on the panels in front of her, "There's a release code, let me, let me just... Anything happening out there?"

"No!"

"Hang on, I'm trying a thing," Oswin continued working on the controls, hoping she could get it working in time.

"D-Doctor," Minerva tugged on the Doctor's sleeve and pointed back.

The Daleks that hadn't been chained up were breaking through their stalls and coming for them, "Doc... tor... Doc... tor... Doc... tor..."

"Oswin, get this door open! Oswin open this door!" the Doctor began shouting in panic. He grabbed Minerva and stuck her in-between him and the door. He kept glancing back at the nearing Daleks while calling out and pounding on the door, even Minerva joining in.

"Oswin, hurry up!" the ginger cried, her heart beating at light-speed as the Daleks continued coming towards them.

"Oswin! PLEASE, GET THIS DOOR OPEN!" the Doctor screamed and turned to face the Daleks, making sure to keep Minerva behind and pressed to the door, "OSWIN! OSWIN! PLEASE, GET THIS DOOR OPEN! HELP US!"

"Doc... tor... Doc... tor..." the Daleks struggled to say but there was no apparent struggle to get closer. Just when they were mere inches from the pair, they froze...and then left them.

Oswin felt quite proud of herself and even high-fived Citlally, "Oh, that is cool. Tell me I'm cool, Mins and the chin boy."

But on the other side, things weren't so amusing as the Doctor was with Minerva trying to re-stabilize her emotions. Minerva felt a discomforting pain in her stomach due to the sky-rocketed emotions she had just gone through in the last two minutes. Calm emotions were key in a healthy pregnancy. The opposite could go as far as a miscarriage or even premature labor. The Doctor had no intention on seeing either of that happening. He'd already been responsible for one incident and he was intent on making sure she was as calm as possible.

"What did she...do?" Minerva was having trouble regaining her normal breathing pattern. Every time she breathed the pain increased.

"Hang on, I think I've found the door thingie..." Oswin began but even the Doctor was adamant on finding out.

"No, tell us what you did!" the Doctor ordered.

"The Daleks, they have a hive mind. Well they don't, but they have a telepathic web. I hacked into it. Did a master delete on all the information connected with the Doctor and even of good ole Mins for safety measures."

"You made them forget us?" Minerva blinked, looking up at the Doctor who was even more shocked than her.

"Good, eh? And here comes the door!" Oswin cheered and finally got the door opened.

"I've tried hacking the Path Web. Even _I_ couldn't do it," the Doctor remarked, not quite ready to let it go.

"Come and meet the girl who can."

The couple turned around and found a bright, white room on the other side...plus one special, important, thing...

~ 0 ~

Oswin was cleaning up to greet them when she noticed the two were just standing outside, "Hey! You're right outside, come on in."

"Oswin...we have a problem," Minerva shook with sadness.

"No, we don't! Don't even say that," Oswin nearly warned, "I joined the Alaska to see the universe, ended up stuck in a shipwreck, first time out," she dashed and leaned on the back of her chair, "Rescue me, Mins and chin boy, and show me the stars."

"Does it look real to you? " the Doctor wondered curiously.

"Does what look real?"

"Where you are right now. Does it seem real?"

"It _is_ real," Oswin argued.

"It's a _dream_ , Oswin. You dreamed it for yourself, because the truth was too terrible," the Doctor sighed, "You even dreamed yourself up a friend to keep you company."

"Where am I?" the _real_ Oswin, a _dalek_ , questioned. The Dalek was chained up at the end of the room and...was Oswin, "Where... am... I? Where... am... I?"

"You're a Dalek," Minerva swallowed hard.

"I am not a Dalek! I am _not_ a Dalek!" Oswin argued through her real Dalek voice, "I'm human."

As she could, Minerva went for the Dalek she assumed would be benign, "You were human when you crashed here. It was you who climbed out of the pod - that was your ladder."

~ 0 ~

Oswin's eyes flickered to the side and remembered that moment.

* * *

 _She climbed down the ladder of the pod and hopped into the corridor. Citlally was already waiting for her there and was shouting, "Daleks!" and pointing to the nearing Daleks coming for them._

 _"Where are we?" Oswin kept asking, knowing she wouldn't ever get a response, "Where are we?"_

* * *

"I'm... human..." the Oswin-Dalek declared slowly.

"Not anymore," Minerva felt awful of saying that, but it was the truth, the cold hard truth.

"You're right, you're a genius," the Doctor reminded, "And the Daleks need genius. They didn't just make you a puppet, they did a full conversion. Oswin, I am so sorry. But you are a Dalek. The milk, Oswin. The milk and the eggs for the soufflés, where, where did it all come from? It wasn't real. It was never real."

~ 0 ~

Oswin looked around the room and let her mind wander back to the real world and what happened during her last moments as...human.

* * *

 _Oswin was being hooked up for the Dalek conversion. her eyes rapidly flicking to one side to the other, "I am not a Dalek...I am human, I am not a Dalek..."_

 _"Oswin!" Oswin managed to hear Citlally's voice before she vanished completely._

* * *

"Eggs... term... in... ate," the Oswin-Dalek raised its gun.

"Oswin?" Minerva blinked and instinctively stepped back with the Doctor.

"Eggs... term... in... ate. Exterminate! Exterminate!" the Oswin-Dalek broke free from its chains and went for the couple.

"Not again," Minerva put her hands on her stomach as she felt her fear cause another pain to shoot up.

"No, no, no, Oswin, Oswin listen...Oswin!" the Doctor desperately called as he moved back to the door with Minerva, "You don't have to do this!"

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

"Oswin! Oswin!"

But just like that, the Oswin-Dalek stopped in front of them, no longer threatening them with extermination.

~ 0 ~

Oswin was on the floor, against the door, sobbing with her hands over her head. All her repressed memories were flashing through her mind, overbearing. "Citlally," she called and looked up for her imaginary friend. However, she came to the confusing realization that she was alone. Completely alone.

"Citlally?" her shaky voice called out again, but no one responded. "Citlally, where are you?"

~ 0 ~

"The dream is breaking," Minerva whispered her assumption, her heart breaking for the woman as she realized she was tragically alone.

"Why do they hate you so much?" the Oswin-Dalek asked, presumably for the Doctor, "They hate you so much. Why?"

"I fought them. Many, many times," the Doctor answered.

"We have grown stronger in fear of you."

"I know. I tried to stop," the Doctor sighed in guilt.

"Then run."

That made the couple look at each other in shock, "Hold on, what?" Minerva was the first one to ask.

"I've taken down the force-field. The Daleks above have begun their attack," the Oswin-Dalek informed them, "Run!"

The door behind them opened up, giving them their access to freedom.

"Oswin?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Are you..."

"I am Oswin Oswald. I fought the Daleks," she declared, "And I _am_... human. Remember me."

"Thank you," Minerva smiled softly.

"Run!"

With that, the Doctor took Minerva's hand and ran off to finally get home.

~ 0 ~

Oswin leaned back on her chair, a sad smile on her face, "Run, you clever girl and boy...and remember..." she looked around her empty room, having to resign that her friend had disappeared twice. Well, if there was one thing about Citlally is that she had always been with her till the last moment.

~ 0 ~

Minerva and the Doctor ran into the teleportation room just in time as the explosions behind them increased. They came to surprise of finding Amy and Rory kissing and any other moment they would have been cheering...but this was literally life or death.

"Oh give me that!" Minerva snatched the controls from Rory and pushed for them to go.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was loving the fact the Daleks in the ship were going crazy after they managed to escape. He stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around the thousand Daleks, "You know, you guys should really have seen this coming. Thing about me and teleports, I've got a really good aim. Pin-point accurate, in fact. Or to put it another way..."

"Suckers!" Minerva poked her head out from the doorway, giggling, "God I really wish you guys had facial expressions to take photo."

"Identify yourself! Identify! Identify!" the Daleks ordered.

"Well, it's me! Us?" the Doctor gestured to himself and Minerva, "You know us! The Doctor! The Oncoming Storm? The Predator?"

"Kaeya? Queen?" Minerva added and looked at the Doctor with confusion.

"Titles are not meaningful in this context," the trap-woman stepped forwards, "Queen of what? Doctor who?"

Soon, the other Daleks began repeating her words until it became a chanter.

"Oh, Oswin," the Doctor smiled, "Oh, you did it to them all! Oh, you beauty!"

"What do you know? Maybe she was a Clever Girl after all," Minerva chuckled and reached for the Doctor to pull him inside the TARDIS.

~ 0 ~

After dropping off Amy and Rory, who seemed in a much better place than earlier, the Doctor had taken Minerva straight to the Monsoon to be checked for anything that may have gone wrong after the Asylum. Thankfully, everything seemed fine but Minerva did have to be on rest for a couple of days. The Doctor would have preferred to return to the TARDIS but he knew that if something did go wrong he didn't want to run the risk of not knowing something and harm her or the baby. That was the special detail about their pregnancy, the fact that a pregnancy like that hadn't happened since the beginning of the Monsoon, neither he nor Minerva knew how the pregnancy would go or what consequences could happen. So, any chance they got they spent their time on the Monsoon where Minerva had guards and family close to her.

That was why Minerva was laying down in their bedroom of the palace, trying to get some of that rest. The TARDIS had been once again set at the corner of the room where she and the Doctor could easily have access to it.

The Doctor came out of the TARDIS holding her sketchpad and a packet of her colored pencils, "Look what I have?" he waved them for her, "Because I know that instead of sleeping you're actually going to stay up."

Minerva smiled brightly as she sat up and rested against the bed headboard, "And _that_ is why I married you," she giggled as she took the things from him.

"How you feeling?" he asked after placing a kiss upon her lips.

"Better, my feet stopped hurting," she shrugged, "And my stomach feels better, too," she patted her stomach.

"Well that doesn't mean I want you walking around when you don't need to," the Doctor took his place at her side and wrapped his arms around her to bring her closer, her back to his chest, "Can you stay still for just a minute, please?"

Minerva chuckled, "Oh, ha, ha, look who's talking? The man who never stays still."

"You don't fall that back, love," the Doctor pointed out, "Now c'mon, relax and draw something. Maybe for the baby?"

"Actually..." and instead of Minerva drawing, she ended up writing the words 'Boy' on one side of the page and 'Girl' on the other.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, questioning her drawing skills for the moment.

"Oswin was right, we have to come up with names," Minerva shrugged, "I mean, we don't have much time. These last months are going to fly by and when the baby's here we're not going to have a single name!"

"You're right," the Doctor agreed.

"And, you know, I was thinking we follow the Time Lord's tradition of naming," Minerva tilted her head up to look at him, "What do you think, Theta?"

The Doctor smiled, "Oh my Kaeya, I think that's wonderful," he dipped her head back enough to where he could give her a kiss.

"Plus that kinda gives us the option to give two names," Minerva innocently said as she returned to her sketchpad.

"So do you have any ideas?" the Doctor asked as he pushed some of her hair back to rest his chin on her shoulder.

"Actually, I kinda do..." Minerva admitted.

"Really? And what are they?"

"Well, they're girl names, first of all..."

"...of course..."

"...but I think they're good ones, at least for like the name that everyone else would call her."

"What are they?"

Minerva smiled excitedly and began reciting some names as she wrote them down. "I really like the names Kara and Irina. Oh, but Graciela is another one! Then there's Belén and Cadence."

"I think those are beautiful names," the Doctor remarked, chuckling at her enthusiasm. "So you have anything for boys?"

"I'm sorry, I just...I really want a girl," Minerva admitted with a sigh, "My mind is so set on that little girl."

"Minerva, what would happen if it turned out to be a boy?" the Doctor curiously wondered.

"Well, first of all, I would throw out the pink booties I will hopefully have finished knitting by then," she answered and made him laugh, "But then afterwards I would tell him how much I love him. Look," she became serious and turned her head to look at him, "You know my thoughts on children have never been exactly positive and that's changed, a bit- I mean, I'm still terrified of what I'm going to do when I'm carrying my baby for the first time, but...hopefully, I won't be that bad. Whether it's a girl or boy I will love my baby to bits and pieces."

"You can't be a bad mother if you think like that," the Doctor whispered to her honestly.

"Then I'm off to a good start," Minerva pecked his lips, "Now give me ideas for names! I'm going to write them down," she tapped her pencil to the paper, "C'mon Martian, we have a lot of work to do!"

The Doctor chuckled and agreed, so they began the list of names for their arriving baby.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

And here we are with the beginning of my next fave companion arc - Clara! But, what's this? She has an imaginary friend? Why does that sound so familiar hmmmm ? You know it's important because this is the first story not to feature on the cover either Minerva nor 11 (not counting Next Stop Everywhere) :o Just a random fun fact, a few of the names Minerva listed for their baby are actually future OCs from my other stories being drafted lmao, excited? (I am!) ;)).

Just to remind, this story will be updated every 2 weeks! Other than that, once again welcome to the newest adventures of Minerva and hope you enjoy it! Especially because this is technically the last story involving 11! *sobs*. Leave your comments and thoughts if you wish! :)


	2. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Minerva walked alongside none other than Queen Nefertiti inside an ancient-looking room, "So I think we can make a deal here," Minerva flashed a proud smile as she turned to Nefertiti.

"You do drive a hard bargain," Nefertiti commented with her own smile, "But I like it."

"Contract shall be made soon," Zohar called as she caught up with the women. She was busy scribbling something down on a notepad she held, "And you can expect first shipment of deliciously baked Monsoon treats by the end of this week."

"I sure hope Dathan is ready to get cooking," Minerva chuckled, "Cos he's about to get more orders."

Zohar waved the subject off, "He'll love the idea of his treats being sent to _ancient Egypt_ ," she couldn't help beam like a child as she gazed upon the ancient queen herself, "Queen Nefertiti, even _I_ would get to baking."

Nefertiti awkwardly smiled and simply looked at Minerva, still not quite understanding why an _alien_ queen would want to make contracts with Earth kingdoms. She was especially intrigued that Minerva preferred making the deal with herself rather than her husband, even though her husband would be back in a couple days from his trip. Still, Nefertiti was gracious of the new deal that would benefit her people and stop them from starving.

The room violently shook and rocked the women on their feet. Minerva was the first to react and not in a good way, "Ooh," she put a hand over her stomach, "Can we not do the rocking thing? It gets me rather-" she covered her mouth at the feel of a gag.

A couple seconds later ran in the Doctor, out of breath but looking mighty proud of himself, "I did it!" he exclaimed with a wide grin. Unfortunately for him, he was received with a harsh smack from Zohar on the arm, "Ow!" he quickly reacted to it, his hand flying to his arm to rub his new bruise, "What the hell was that for? I just saved the bloody kingdom from a weapon-bearing giant alien locust attack and in a rather brilliantly way!"

"Well I hope you're ready to get cleaning because your wife is about to throw up," Zohar gestured to a rather pale-looking Minerva.

"Oh," the Doctor apologetically smiled, "I'm so sorry, love," he rushed to her side and pulled out a small box from his pocket. Inside was revealed to be bright, green leaves which he quickly took and waved them under Minerva's nose. She took deep whiffs of it and slowly felt herself return to normal, "Better?" the Doctor asked her, receiving a nod in response.

"What is that?" Nefertiti pointed to the leaves, confused.

"Minty leaves," Minerva held one to the other queen, "It is the only thing that will stop me from throwing up, most of the time."

"Interesting," Nefertiti remarked as she studied the perfectly normal leaf on her palm.

"So, deals have been while a kingdom has been saved," the Doctor was still proud of his actions, "Anyone up for a-" an old style car horn interrupted his question. He dug inside his pockets again and took out the psychic paper, "Oh, that's interesting," he raised his eyebrows upon reading the message.

"Who is it?" Zohar asked curiously.

"Is River in trouble again?" Minerva sighed, already wondering just what her daughter had gotten into this time. Even though she was a queen, Minerva felt it awkward to have to pull strings so that her daughter, a technical princess, could escape the consequences she well deserved on other planets.

"No, no, it's not River," the Doctor looked at her excitedly, "But it _is_ something we've never seen before!"

"I volunteer," Zohar quickly raised a hand, making the two aliens look at her sharply, "What? I haven't been on a trip for a while. And look, I already got myself a buddy," she linked arms with Nefertiti, ignoring the odd stare the queen had on her for the action.

She didn't care, it was bloody Queen Nefertiti!

~ 0 ~

Inside a military base stood a female soldier, named Indira, who was explaining the situation to Minerva, the Doctor, Zohar and Nefertiti. It seemed they had sent the message for help to the Doctor for some unidentified ship nearing the Earth planet. There was a holographic screen that showed the visual problems to them.

"Craft size approximately ten million square kilometers," Indira gestured to the ship on the screen.

"A ship the size of Canada, coming at Earth very fast," the Doctor crossed his arms and studied the ship, "Any signs of life?"

"We sent up a drone craft, it took these readings," Indira pulled up the readings on the lower part of the screen for them to see.

"Crikey Charlie, look at that!" the Doctor bent down to see the readings.

Meanwhile, Minerva gave a sharp look at Indira, "Couldn't have pulled them a bit higher?" she gestured to her stomach which no longer allowed for bending.

"Ooh, I know someone who'd love a look," the Doctor smirked, "And the Ponds! Mustn't forget the Ponds! Haven't seen them in a couple of weeks."

"We promised them we'd not do gaps," Minerva reminded him of the Pond's request.

While the two humans had decided it was time to start living a life on Earth, they didn't want to miss their 'god child's' birth. Because, yes, they decreed they were to become the god parents of the newest addition to the family of travelers. The birth was one moment they weren't going to miss and so they required Minerva and the Doctor to come back every so often from their timeline to visit and spend some time together.

"What about communications?" Zohar circled the screen while studying all its information, "Are they active?"

"Good question," Minerva pointed.

"My parents weren't commanders for nothing," Zohar reminded then faced Indira for an answer.

"No response on any channel in any recognised language. If it comes within 10,000 kilometres of Earth, we send up missiles."

"Why do you have to do that?" Minerva sighed and started back for the TARDIS. Surely, there were going to be some savings needed and missiles weren't going to help.

The Doctor watched her go off for a moment with an amused expression. Her patience was dwindling the more time passed due to her pregnancy. He imagined it had to be difficult carrying another being inside and enduring all the negative affects like nausea, unlimited cravings and the cases of swelling feet. The fact she was Queen and had an entire kingdom to look after wasn't exactly helping either. Although, Mayar had insisted, nearly ordered, Minerva to start weaning off the job for the rest of the pregnancy so she could remain relaxed and resting. Minerva knew Mayar would happily take over the reigns until she was fit again but she didn't like the idea.

And there she was.

"How long will it be until the ship closes in on the planet?" Nefertiti's question brought the Doctor back to the present.

"Six hours, nineteen minutes," Indira motioned to the countdown on the screen.

"Right, better get a shift on then," Zohar started making her way to the TARDIS with Nefertiti.

"Leave it with us," the Doctor said to Indira before going after the women, "We're going to need help!" he cheerfully announced as he passed the two.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor led Minerva up to a campsite in Africa where an old friend, Riddel, sat on a log in front of a fire while eating stew. The Doctor waved to the man while letting Minerva take a seat on the log.

"More stew?" Minerva chuckled as she got the scent of the meal, "Hope my husband hasn't let the time gaps get to you as well," she was aware the Doctor had paid a visit to the man recently and left him unexpectedly.

"Seven months!" Riddel declared and pointed at the Doctor, " You were popping out for some licorice! I had two very disappointed dancers on my hands! Not that I couldn't manage."

"Two what, now?" Minerva raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, propping an elbow on her lap and resting her chin over her hand.

The Doctor panicked thinking she would assume the worst, "N-no! No! Not me! Him!"

"It's fine," Minerva calmly assured, "I'll just remember that when I'm meeting very handsome kings and princes."

"NO!" the Doctor immediately declared, "Absolutely not!"

Minerva left the man to panic some more and instead focused on Riddel who was far amused by the couple, "So, we've sort of found something up there..." she pointed to the dark sky.

"Up there?" Riddel followed her pointing finger.

"Mhm, and we have no idea what it could be. Would you like to find out?"

Riddel's answer was a clean smirk.

~ 0 ~

"And there's no kings you were going to meet?" the Doctor repeated the question for about the fifth time. He had his hands on Minerva and a severe pout on his face that just made Minerva laugh. He'd taken Minerva's warning very serious and ended up being far more concerned than he should be.

"There are no kings I'm going to meet," she draped her arms around his neck, "I've got my King already," she assured, "and he's a Martian...and father to my baby. I'm good."

"Okay," the Doctor pecked her lips, "Okay...but you mean it right?"

Minerva laughed again, "Yes!"

"You are ridiculous," Zohar came down the stairs of the console and leaned on the rails, "How the hell did you manage to marry my friend again?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and kept a tight grip around Minerva's waist, "Oh shut up."

"Well I've locked onto the Pond's if you want to come out and greet them," Zohar gestured up to the console, "when they get here."

"Let's go see some Ponds, then," Minerva cheered and followed Zohar up to the console where Riddel and Nefertiti awaited.

The Doctor overlooked the controls while the TARDIS materialized around Amy and Rory...and Rory's father, Brian, "Hello! You weren't busy, were you? Well, even if you were, it wasn't as interesting as this probably is. Didn't want you to miss it. Now, just a quick hop."

Minerva looked around the console and saw the newest guest, "Oh no..." she blinked, "Doc-"

"Everybody grab a torch!" the Doctor ordered as he grabbed one himself and pulled Minerva to the doors, never noticing the third human he'd picked up.

They stepped out into a dark spaceship that looked like it hadn't been visited in centuries. The Doctor became interested in a spider webs against the wall, " Spiders. Don't normally get spiders in space."

Poor Brian came out of the TARDIS without one coherent thought, "What the...?"

"Don't move!" the Doctor spun around and marched up to Brian, "D'you really think I'm that stupid I wouldn't notice? How did you get aboard? Transmat? Who sent you?"

Rory sighed and spoke up, "Doctor…that's my dad."

That still did not seem to calm the Doctor, "Well, frankly, that's outrageous."

"What?"

"You think you can bring your dad along without asking? We're not a taxi service, you know!"

"Dear, we kind of took him with us," Minerva decided to intervene as she went back to them, "accidentally anyways," Rory thanked her with a pointing finger.

"So then it was your fault," the Doctor pointed over to Zohar who merely blinked in surprise, "You can't just materialize around people!"

"That was _you_!" Zohar gestured frantically to him, "I just set up the coordinates!"

Minerva sighed and greeted Brian, hoping the man wouldn't be too scarred so far, "We're really sorry, Brian. We usually call ahead but this time my husband was just that excited."

"Aha..." was all Brian could say for the moment.

"Sorry," she whispered to Rory as she turned away, "Well then, we've best get started on exploring," she announced to the group before going ahead.

Amy rushed after them after ordering Rory to explain to his father. She was actually a bit worried over the significant time gap the two aliens had given them this time around. In one of those, they could return with the baby in hands!

There would be some smacking if that happened, she promised.

"Alright," she caught up with them and discreetly checked Minerva's stomach for any progression made. It still looked about the same size they'd seen last time they were around, "Where are we?" she looked around, "and what is that noise? And hello!" she waved her fingers, "Ten months!"

"Orbiting Earth," Minerva began to answer one by one, "Well, we say orbiting but it's really more like pre-crashing on a spaceship."

"Don't know," the Doctor answered the second question, "And hello, Pond!" he hugged the ginger human, "Ten months?" he sounded confused as he pulled away, "Funny, it's only been a couple weeks for us," he glanced back at Minerva who confirmed his statement with a nod.

"Yeah, we're being extra careful not to let too much time pass for you guys," she crossed her arms, "But then again, my attention span isn't doing so well nowadays."

"Course not," Zohar clapped a hand over her shoulder, "she's got a kingdom to run plus dealing with the little person inside of her."

Minerva shrugged in agreement, "Oh, and that's Neffy and Riddel," she pointed to the two newcomers behind them, "They're with us for this trip."

'With you?" Amy spun around to the new people, sharply looking at them, "They're with you, are they the new us? Is that why we haven't seen you?"

"No, they're just people," the Doctor assured and turned her around to continue walking, "They're not Ponds! I thought we might need a gang, not really had a gang before, it's new."

They came to a stop at the sound of the lift across them making noises, "It's coming down," Zohar whispered.

"Kinda noticed," Minerva whispered back and earned a mock-glare from Zohar.

"What is it?" Riddell flashed his torch at the lift.

"No idea," the Doctor replied honestly.

The doors of the lift opened up once it arrived to the level, allowing for a blinding light to take over the room. The animal noises, like roaring, did startle them along with the large casting shadows of two animals.

"Not possible," Brian's eyes widened as two dinosaurs came into the room.

"Run!" Zohar declared and everyone did so at once.

Minerva made it a couple feet away when she noticed she was short one Martian. She glanced back and found him staring at the dinosaurs like a child would inside a sweet shop, "You're kidding me," she rolled her eyes, "LET'S GO!" she shouted for him.

"Dinosaurs! On a spaceship!" the Doctor turned around and came after her, gracing a wide grin on his face, "Can you believe it?"

"I'm not excited for deadly dinosaurs!" she huffed as they ran but suddenly looked down as she felt a round of kicks on her stomach, "Oh great, but apparently _someone_ is," the Doctor laughed and took her hand to get them moving faster. That baby was definitely _his_!

Thanks to Nefertiti, they found sanction in a narrow opening near the corridor.

Riddell pulled out a rather large knife from his jacket, intending on using it on the dinosaurs, "I could take one of them, short blow, up into the throat," he whispered to the others.

"Or not," Minerva frowned, "How about we leave the dinosaurs _alive_? They're kinda rare so we need to preserve them."

"And who's going to preserve _us_!?"

Amy shushed them and pointed to the dinosaurs still nearby. With all of them silent, the dinosaurs headed off in a new direction and left the group alone.

"Okay," Rory began as they all carefully exited the opening, "So, how?" he listed on his fingers, "And whose ship?"

"There's so much to discover. Think how much wiser we'll be by the end of all this," the Doctor successfully avoided the specific answers.

"Sorry, sorry," Brian shook his head, "Are you saying dinosaurs are flying a spaceship?"

"Brian, please!" the Doctor scoffed, "That would be ridiculous. They're probably just passengers. Did I mention missiles?"

"Missiles!?"

"Someone should really start making you some cue cards to keep you from scaring people," Minerva sighed, "You say the wrong things!" and before the Doctor could say anything else, she covered his mouth and looked at the panicked Brian and Rory, "Look, long story short, we've got six hours until Earth sends missiles here to destroy the ship. However, we're going to try and avoid that. So let's not worry."

"That still makes me worry," Rory pointed at her.

"Yeah but I said it in a better way," she quipped in return and dropped her hand from the Doctor's mouth. The Doctor rolled his eyes, took her hand, and led the way down the corridor again. She wasn't wrong though, he really should start watching his words.

They came across an empty, but overly grown with vines, equipment room. The spiderwebs made no one feel less uncomfortable, especially when there were _spiders_ around!

"Someone should really clean this stuff," Zohar made a face as she swatted her hands in front of her face due to a spiderweb she hadn't seen.

"Well if we knew where the people were..." Minerva reminded her of the mysterious situation they were in.

The Doctor had gone up to a computer screen that he supposed would show him what he needed to see and know. With the sonic screwdriver, he was able to bring the computer to life and navigate through its settings. Rory and Brian moved closer to check out the screen.

"Oh, well done, whoever you are. Looking for engines," the Doctor explained as the screen changed to his fulfill his request, "Thank you, computer. Look at that, different sections have different engines, but these look like the primary clusters. Where are we now, computer? We need to get down to these engines..." and he touched the screen, making himself along with Rory and Brian teleport away.

"What happened?" Nefertiti asked, clearly startled by the action.

Minerva turned around and came to see her husband gone. She gave a light sigh and glanced at Nefertiti, "What always happens," she shook her head, "my husband touched something," she walked towards the computer but was stopped by Zohar.

"We don't need you disappearing on us too," she warned.

"I'm not the Doctor, I won't do something stupid," Minerva assured and went up to the computer anyways, "And look," she called after a minute or two, "The teleports have been deactivated," she gestured to the screen for Zohar to check out, "It's been burnt out by the men."

"Great...I think," Zohar looked at her nervously, "How are they supposed to get back?"

"Well, the Doctor's gonna start poking his nose into places he's not meant to be in, get into trouble somehow, and then, by some miracle, will get back here."

Zohar scratched her head and thought for a moment on the plan, "...seriously, _did_ you marry him again?"

Minerva shrugged as she left the computer and went back for the group, "Don't know, I think it was because I loved him...yeah, it was that one."

Zohar rolled her eyes and followed her, "Sarcasm is still active as ever."

"So what do we do now?" Amy asked the two once they were all gathered together, "Can't exactly follow them, can we?"

"Afraid not," Minerva looked around with distaste, "But for the moment, I'd really like to get out of this room."

"Where to, do you propose?" Riddell raised an eyebrow.

"Anywhere that's not here," Minerva started for the exit, "Come along everyone, you're all _my_ gang now," she beamed excitedly and headed out.

They headed back into the corridors, all on high alert should anything pop out...well, mostly everyone. Riddell was holding a flask in one hand while the other held the torch, "There are clearly more than just two of those creatures," he pointed out before taking a drink.

"Hey," scolded Amy with a slap on the arm, "put that away! We need you sober."

"It's medicinal," he offered, "And I don't take orders from females."

"Then _learn_ ," Nefertiti cut in, taking on an authoritative tone, "Any man who speaks to me that way, I _execute_."

Riddell didn't seem to mind the idea, "You're very welcome to try."

"Sorry, what was your name again?" Amy asked Nefertiti.

"Lady of the Two Lands, wife of the Great King Amenhotep, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt."

"I'll be damned..." Riddell said in surprise.

"Oh, my God," Amy blinked then promptly hit Minerva on the arm.

"Ow!" the alien ginger rubbed her arm, "Amy!"

"Why didn't you tell me you knew Nefertiti!?"

"I didn't, up until last week," Minerva shrugged lightly, "I just made a shipment deal with her, isn't that right?" she looked at the Egyptian queen who nodded in response.

"I am a big fan," Amy declared to her, "High five?" she raised a hand but was left a stare.

"Not quite there yet," Zohar reminded her.

"Right," Amy lowered her hand, a big glum, "You're really famous."

"Shh, listen," Riddell put a finger to his lips while they heard the rumbling snorts of the creatures. He lowered his torch and slowly looked down to find a sleeping T-rex just inches from his feet.

"T-rex," Minerva blinked, not quite expecting them to be so oblivious to the large creature. Well, perhaps herself as her attention span wasn't in the best conditions.

"And not full size yet," Zohar added while she studied the creature, "So we're in the middle of a dinosaur nest."

"I propose a retreat," Riddell started backing away but was stopped at the sound of more dinosaurs coming closer, "...or perhaps forwards."

"Agreed," Minerva nodded and motioned for him to come over, "Just don't wake the baby," she pointed to the sleeping creature in-between them.

As carefully as possible, Riddell stepped over the T-Rex but accidentally crunched a paper making the T-Rex snort as if awakening. Thankfully, it remained asleep and allowed for Riddell to cross it. Although he nearly lost his balance, he had a cheery mood when he was finished.

"Who are you, anyway?" Amy studied him once they got a move on in the corridor.

"John Riddell. Big game hunter on the African plains. I'm sure you've heard of me, too."

"No," Amy shook her head, making him frown.

"You clearly have some alarming gaps in your education."

" _Or_ men who hunt defenseless creatures just don't impact on history. Face it," Amy smirked and nodded to Nefertiti, "she's way cooler than you."

"And you, Amy? Are you also a queen?" asked Nefertiti curiously. She simply assumed since Minerva was a Queen herself.

"...yes," Amy answered slowly as she got into the idea, eyes roaming the room as she thought more about it, "...yes, I am."

Minerva glanced back at her silently, not about to disprove her in front of Nefertiti. She was actually rather amused by the comical expression on Amy's face, "Come along then, Queen Pond."

Amy agreed and hurried to Minerva's side, "Shut up and go with it."

"Will do," Minerva raised her hands, "but in the future, don't lie in front of my kid."

"Yeah well in the future your kid won't understand what a lie is."

"Actually, Moontsay babies are smarter than the average human baby," Minerva clarified, "And my baby is kinda a bit special considering it'll be the first cross in centuries between a Time Lord and a Moontsay."

"Blah, blah, I'll still see it as a cute, little baby," Amy beamed at the idea of holding another baby in her arms. She was just finally getting ready to move on from her infertility problems and the idea of having a baby within family, while not hers, didn't sound too bad. She saw the arriving baby as perhaps a chance to repair the damage the Silence had done to her and her baby.

"And you know," Minerva spoke again and unknowingly snapped Amy's thoughts, "I still haven't decided on names yet so if you or Rory have any, we're all ears."

"What happened to the list?"

"It's still there, names crossed out and stuff, but we can't come up with anything," Minerva sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Well..." Amy swayed her head innocently, letting Minerva know there was indeed a name Amy had been thinking about.

"What is it?"

"Well, Rory and I were just talking one day about it..."

"You got a list?"

"We got a list," Amy sheepishly smiled, "We've crossed some out but everyday there's new ones. But I mean, you don't have to see them if you don't want to-"

"No, we do," Minerva quickly cut in, putting a hand on Amy's arm, "We want to see every option out there. For now, just tell me your top three names."

"Okay," Amy considered this for a short second before listing them, "Tristan, Riley, and Olivia."

Minerva froze for a second and garnered the attention of everyone who'd ended up a couple steps in front of her. Amy knew it was something she'd done and panicked, "What is it? What did I do? Are you okay?"

"Yeah...yeah," Minerva nodded slowly and started walking again.

But Amy could tell she was lying, Minerva was staring at the floor as they walked. She discreetly allowed the rest to walk a little ahead of them so she could peacefully talk with Minerva, "Hey, what is it, really? We're co-parents, remember? You can't lie or keep secrets."

Minerva looked up with a resigned sigh, "I like the names..." she began, "...but it's just...the girl's name, it's um, it's actually my late sister's name."

"Sister?" Amy blinked, "You had a sister? You've never mentioned her!"

"She was my human sister from when I was human," Minerva explained, "Her name was Olivia, but I called her Liv most of the time. When times were good, we used to be good sisters."

"Hm, lucky," Amy remarked with a dim smile, "All I ever had were imaginary friends to play with. You and the Doctor, and then Tabitha."

"Which you dumped for us," Minerva nudged her, "We were cooler, weren't we?"

Amy chuckled and shook her head, "Dunno, actually. She kinda just disappeared a bit after you and the Doctor left. My mind was just overtaken with you two that I...guess I forgot about my first friend. Never really remembered her much after that."

"Honestly, I've tried to stop remembering Liv so much," Minerva felt ashamed for voicing her confession, "The pain I used to feel when I remembered the reason for her death was just too much. And now, especially," she gestured to her current state, "it's not good to remember the deaths of those you love. At least with Moontsays, you can visit their spirits some times...but humans? How do you remember humans without crying?"

"Trick question," Amy put an arm around Minerva's shoulder, "That's the thing with remembering - when they're bad, they're bound to make you sad. But that doesn't mean you should try and forget them altogether. The things we remember keep those we love alive, and the things we did a reminder of our happiness."

"Well, maybe sometimes those memories are meant to stay deep inside..."

"Nah," Amy gave her a look and chuckled, "Sooner or later they come back to us. It's better if we're prepared."

Minerva shared a smile with her, "Oh Amy, what would I do without you?"

"You'd be short one God-mother," Amy widely grinned and made Minerva laugh.

~ 0 ~

After a long while of exploring, the group stumbled across another room overtaken by vines and spiderwebs. Although, it seemed much more equipped than the last room. For Minerva, it meant they had to be extra cautious not to touch anything else that would prove to be trouble for them.

"Bit of weed killer wouldn't go amiss in here," Zohar remarked after nearly tripping over a vine on the floor. She froze it and crushed it into dozens of ice particles.

"It seemed whoever ran this ship left in a hurry," Minerva became more concerned for their safety as well as the dinosaurs. If the people who ran the ship were gone, why were the animals still around?

"Maybe a plague came and took them," offered Nefertiti as a theory.

"No, there'd be corpses and bones," Riddell pointed out.

"Unless the animals ate them."

 **"** Whoa, Chuckle Brothers," Amy cut in before the conversation went further darker, "lighten up, would ya?"

"Minerva, look," Zohar had come across a computer that seemed inactive but still working. Minerva came over and clicked a couple buttons to bring the screen to life, along with the lights of the room.

"How did you know how to do that?" Nefertiti wondered as she looked around the brightened room.

"Well I'm already curious enough but the Doctor told me it was much more fun to press buttons," Minerva smiled mischievously as she debated on what to push next.

"What else have you learned from him?"

"Mm...never eat pears," Minerva shrugged and plopped down on a chair nearby which she scooted to the screen, "...and always rest when you can."

"Tired?" Zohar frowned, growing concerned these were the trips she was taking even when she should be resting more often now.

"I can handle it," Minerva raised a hand to stop any 'concerned' remarks from coming out of Zohar's mouth. She was already enduring the ones the Doctor and her grandfather had for her, "Now then," she found a small sphere nearby and placed it on a tray which then went into the computer, "let's see what this does," she leaned back on her seat as an audio began playing without the picture.

 _"'One hundred and seventeen years...'"_

"Data records," Amy assumed as she moved to Minerva's other side.

"Ship's owners?" asked Riddell.

"Could be," Minerva shrugged, "Come on, help us out..." she started playing with more keys.

' _..will remain cryogenic..._ ' the audio still remained without a picture.

"C'mon," Minerva frowned, her dwindling patience taking a deep plunge as she slammed her hand against the computer.

' _..space sleep... I will continue to work..._ '

Angry, she growled and with both hands hit the computer and finally got an image to start materializing.

"Calm down," Zohar put a hand on Minerva's shoulder, understanding levels of patience were in no good condition. Still, it was key for Minerva to stay calm during pregnancies. One big emotion could bring horrible consequences for her and the baby.

"Look," Nefertiti pointed at the much more clearer picture on the screen, "It's beautiful," she saw in awe when they saw an elderly Silurian speaking.

 _'I can't tell how far we have come. Far enough to avoid the destructive impact forecast for our planet. Far enough for me to feel a profound sense of loss.'_

"What is that?" Riddell made a face at the odd creature on screen.

"Silurian," Minerva blinked, definitely not expecting that one, "What's a Silurian doing here? Or what _was_ he doing here, anyways?"

But as the video continued with the narration, they were beginning to get a good idea of the ship's purpose.

' _Of the 50 species loaded, only one has had any difficulty in surviving. All the others are thriving and we expect them to be able to repopulate.'_

 **"** We're on an ark," Amy made a face and looked at the others, "A Silurian ark."

 **"** Lizard people herding dinosaurs on to a space ark?! Absolute tommy-rot," Riddell rolled his eyes and looked away from the screen.

Nefertiti looked at him with irritation, "Only an idiot denies the evidence of their own eyes."

"Egyptian queen or not, I shall put you across my knee and spank you."

"Oh, Lord," Zohar crinkled her nose but continued to focus on the narration, not that it mattered to the humans.

"Try and I'll snap your neck in a heartbeat," Nefertiti warned the hunter.

"Mm. Well, they certainly bred firecrackers in your time."

"Aw, no, no, no," it was Amy who'd intervened, "Please, don't start flirting."

"Flirting companions isn't good," added Minerva, "So I heard, anyways."

"Just ask poor Martha," Zohar chuckled, "She had to endure all the flirting she," she nodded to Minerva, "and the Doctor did when neither knew who they were."

"We did not flirt," Minerva blushed while playing with her fingers, "We just...talked."

"Liar," went Zohar and Amy, both garnering glares for that.

"We have bigger problems than my honesty," Minerva declared as she rose to her feet, "This was a Silurian ship, full of Silurians, so where are they?" everyone began looking around for the answer that clearly wasn't good, "And _that_ , ladies and gentlemen, is why I'm Queen," Minerva smirked and crossed her arms, "With respect to Nefertiti," she added afterwards, "This is just my territory."

Zohar sighed and leaned to the screen to give an order, "Display life signs for homo reptilia," But the screen displayed no life signs.

"But where have they gone?" Amy asked as she peered at the screen.

"Perhaps they found another world, left the ship," Nefertiti suggested.

"But the dinosaurs were clearly an important part of their new world plan," Minerva reminded, "Plus, the ship is heading for Earth without proper reason. Why?" she leaned to the screen and requested, "Computer, show me the ship at launch with all life signals. Now show me the ship today with all life signals," she studied with confusion, "Thousands less. But why? I mean... Show me both images, then and now, side by side."

"What are you looking for?" Riddell asked after watching the two panels come side by side.

"We're going to spot the difference," Minerva announced,cracking her fingers to get started on the task. She always did like puzzles, "What changed? What happened to the Silurians?"

Nefertiti won the game when she pointed, "The center."

"Computer, zoom in to the center," Minerva ordered and was finally able to catch the important change, "Oh, no."

"What is it?" Riddell questioned.

"That's another spacecraft," Minerva frowned, her concern for the Doctor now skyrocketing because she was sure the man had already found the owner of the other spaceship by this point.

"So this ship's been boarded before," Zohar blinked with realization, "and its owners are probably still around."

"We need to find this place now," Minerva turned from the screen, ready to continue the exploration.

"You're crazy," Zohar declared and captured Minerva's irritation when she glanced back, "You are pregnant, you cannot go leading a group to some unknown spacecraft and endanger yours and your baby's life."

Minerva narrowed her eyes then looked at the others for other comments.

"I am completely with her on this one," Amy pointed a thumb at Zohar, "You are _not_ risking my God child's life."

Minerva put her hands on her hips, her irritation rising clearly, "But-"

"I think they are right," Nefertiti spoke up next, "A queen must know when to back down. She must be smart and not face a threat without proper strategies."

Minerva found herself outnumbered and expected Riddell to follow in the women's words.

"Can't we contact the Doctor?" he asked, "Perhaps a strategy can be devised together."

"Unbelievable," Minerva frantically threw her hands up and turned away.

"And that is why we're your friends," Amy declared proudly, "we keep you from doing stupid stuff."

Minerva grumbled and crossed her arms, feeling like a child when their parents would scold them. She was the bloody queen! She should be able to do as she pleased. A faint kick emerged in her stomach and reminded her that perhaps...she could do as she pleased _after_ her baby was out and couldn't die because its mother decided to be wreckless.

Contacting the Doctor would only work by calling Rory, and so that is what happened. Amy allowed for Minerva to take over the call after the line was picked up, "Rory!" she nearly shouted, "Where the hell is the Doctor? Where are you guys!?"

"Still on board," Rory tried to keep up with the shouts and questions, "Met some pterodactyls and some rusty robots, that I'm going to melt down."

"He met robots?" Minerva rubbed her temples with a sigh, "The Doctor and robots never mix well, but that's not the point here. Can you pass me my husband?"

"...yeah," Rory slowly said and rose Minerva's suspicion on how much trouble they were in now.

"Clever Girl!" the Doctor exclaimed happily, "Tell me you and our baby are okay?"

"Fine," Minerva assured and glanced back at the others with narrowed eyes, "Irritated, but fine. Just listen, okay?"

"I'll do my best!"

"This is a Silurian ship. This is an ark, built by the Silurians. They were looking for another planet."

"Where are they now?"

"That's the bad part...we don't know," Minerva returned to the computer screen and did a scan of the entire spaceship, "See, there's no signs of Silurians but their stasis pods are still here...but empty."

"I'll see you soon," the Doctor suddenly bid goodbye with a serious tone.

"No, hold on!" Minerva tried to stop him bit it was too late, he'd hung up.

"What is it?" Zohar moved to her worriedly.

Minerva stared at the phone and the screen for a minute, "I get the feeling the Doctor already knows what happened to the Silurians, or _who_ happened."

"So why didn't he tell you?"

"Because he's 'protecting me'," Minerva rolled her eyes.

"Should have just asked, then," Amy took back her phone, "He does what ever you say and gives you what ever you want."

"Not when it endangers my life, apparently," Minerva walked away from the screen and looked around, "Riddell? If you were to hide your weapons in this room, where would you put them?"

Riddell raised his eyebrows while he took a look around the room.

The rest of the women looked at Minerva with alarm. Amy rushed to her, hoping to get some sense into her, "You can't kill innocent creatures!"

"I didn't say the weapons were for the creatures," Minerva bluntly informed, leaving Amy surprised for a minute. Seeing the human in nearlike distress, Minerva elaborated, "Someone on this ship clearly had no problem getting rid of the Silurians, meaning they won't have a problem getting rid of _us_ either."

"What? So that's our strategy?" Amy blinked and looked to see Riddell rummaging around the room for the needed weapons.

"I don't take chances anymore," Minerva rested a hand over her stomach, "River was taken from us because of people who didn't mind getting rid of her parents. The story will not repeat itself this time. I remember. And I vow never to let that happen again."

Amy straightened up and sighed, "This remembrance thing, good and bad."

Minerva shrugged, "Mhm."

Riddell had come across a cabinet full of rifles, "Got 'em!"

"No weapons against the dinosaurs," Minerva clarified for the last time. "They're for...others.."

Riddell returned with several of them and handed one to Amy and Zohar. Zohar examined the weapons and her eyes half-widened. "It's anesthetic," she looked up with a relieved smile, "These are stun guns. You're almost clever."

"Enough to make a dinosaur take a nap," Riddell nodded then glanced back at Minerva, "Good, your highness?"

"Very good," Minerva chuckled, "And I don't need the whole titles thing. Barely allow the Doctor to use to it on me."

That made Nefertiti curious of Amy, prompting her to ask, "Amy, who's Queen are you?"

"I'm Rory's queen," Amy blurted without thinking and quickly retracted, "Wife. I'm his _wife_ ," Minerva and Zohar started laughing, "Please don't tell him I said I was his queen - I'll never hear the end of it."

"It's gonna cost you," Minerva pointed and got to thinking while Amy groaned and turned away, "Oh, let's just go before I really crack down," Minerva wiped a tear from her face as her laughter slowly faded.

"Minerva, look," Zohar had turned to the computer to see the Doctor, Rory, and Brian in some corridor.

"Is the audio working?" Minerva hurried back.

Zohar fumbled with the keys but eventually managed to get it, "Yeah, and look..." he pointed to an older man across the Doctor, with two robots behind him, "...I'm going to make the wild guess he's the head around here?"

"Shh, listen," Amy motioned for them to pay attention as everyone gathered to listen.

 _"You're right, Doctor. I can't keep the dinosaurs and live myself. But I had the IV system scan the entire ship and it found something even more valuable. Utterly unique. I don't know where you found it or how you got it here, but I want it."_

" _I don't know what you're talking about,_ " the Doctor did his best to sound in the dark.

 _"Earth Queen Nefertiti of Egypt."_

Everyone looked at the Egyptian queen with surprise

 _'A face stamped across her to me and I'll let the rest of you live._

The Doctor moved up to the man, " _No._ "

" _You think I won't punish those who get in my way? Whatever their worth?_ " the older man, Solomon, had one of the robots shoot a triceratops nearby.

"Forget the stun guns, I want a real one now," Minerva muttered with disgust.

"Minerva," Zohar whispered, "the teleportation system is back on."

"We can go there now," Minerva nodded as she understood.

"Then I demand to be brought there," Nefertiti spoke up and left everyone surprised.

Minerva looked back at the queen, "Nefertiti, we can't bring you there. That man's wants you for God knows what."

"As a queen, you know what a queen wants, she gets," Nefertiti sharply gazed at her, "This is an _order_."

Minerva understood that perfectly. With a sigh, she turned for the computer and began preparations for teleportation. She knew the Doctor would berate her for it but she hoped a sweet smile would get her way.

The group teleported right in the corridor where the Doctor and Solomon were. Their presence wasn't too well greeted but it was no surprise.

"What are you doing here!?" the Doctor looked at Minerva suspiciously.

"Queen's orders," Nefertiti took the answer and caught his look, "I demanded to be brought here."

He grabbed her arm when she made a move for Solomon, "No, no, no, no - no way."

"It isn't your choice, Doctor. It's mine."

"Listen to me, if you go with him, I can't guarantee your safety."

"You saved my people and Minerva's going to save them from starvation, I am in your debt," Nefertiti looked between the couple with honesty.

"We don't do this to be repaid," Minerva stepped closer to them.

"Then I do it of my own will."

"Nefertiti, _please_ ," Minerva began but the woman started for Solomon.

"No!" Riddell aimed his rifle at Solomon, "Take her, I shoot you."

Nefertiti held an arm out for rejection, "Put your weapon down. Let me make my choice."

"Do it, boy," Solomon smirked. With no options, Riddell lowered his rifle and gave in, "My bounty increases," Solomon faced Nefertiti with awe, "And what an extraordinary bounty you are."

At the sight of him wanting to touch her, Nefertiti pushed his hand away, "Never touch me."

Solomon pushed her against the wall and used the edge of his cane to press is against her throat, "I like my possessions to have spirit. It means I can have fun breaking them. And I will break you in, with immense pleasure," Solomon lowered his cane and glanced at the Doctor, "Thank you, Doctor. Computer? Take us back to my ship," and with a flash of light, he, Nefertiti and the robots disappeared.

An alarm began wailing throughout the entire ship, the repeating of, "' _Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress,_ " becoming ongoing.

"Bingo," the Doctor blinked with an idea.

"Oh," Minerva smirked as she caught the glimpse of the idea in his mind. Nowadays their telepathic connection was better than ever. However, she still needed her ring to keep her abilities strong - not that it mattered to either of them. As long as she could use the ability, it didn't matter how it was.

"Let's go," the Doctor took her hand and began the way for the base of their plan.

~ 0 ~

"Okay, control deck," the Doctor stopped in front of a rather smallish room.

There were two chairs that were assumed to be the drivers seats placed at the center of the room. The Doctor ignored it for the moment as he went to the machinery near it. He took off its cap and checked inside.

"So, what's the plan?" Rory looked at Minerva for the answer since he figured the Doctor would be too busy working away.

"It's the missiles, Rory," Minerva shrugged, "we can't outrun them so we have to develop some type of decoy?"

Rory stared at her a moment, trying to see if he could come up with the finishing pieces of the plan, "...no, still not getting it."

"17 minutes before the missiles hit, we need to turn this ship around," the Doctor took a shot at explaining as he used the sonic inside the machinery.

"You said it was too late, there wasn't any time."

"Ah, yes, but I didn't have this plan then, did I?" the Doctor smirked, "Riddell? Keep an eye out for dinosaurs."

"And _me_ ," Zohar declared as Riddell handed his gun to Brian, "I _am_ daughter of commanders and led my own army back then. Dinosaurs?" she scoffed, "Please."

"No killing any of the creatures," Minerva warned, "Now I've got another request," she looked around with distaste, "someone get rid of all these cobwebs!" Zohar chuckled lightly to herself as she followed Riddell out the room.

While Rory and Brian got on Minerva's request, the Doctor hit some sort of slump with the computers as he smacked it, "No! Don't be like that! Really unhelpful."

"What's the matter?" Amy asked, she and Minerva moving closer to him.

"Parallel pilot compartments, bio-configured, needs two operators of the same gene chain. That's why Solomon couldn't change the ship's course and neither can we," the Doctor noticed Brian raising a hand, "What?"

"We can," the man realized and pointed to Rory and himself, "Me and Rory. We must be the same gene thingy you just said."

"Brian Pond, you are delicious!"

"I'm not a Pond," Brian made a face of confusion.

""Kinda are," Minerva chuckled and denoted for them to move to chairs, "Sit down, both of you."

"Ship does all the engineering, the controls are straightforward, even a monkey could use them," the Doctor watched the two humans sit down and smirked, "Oh, look, they're going to," crickets were heard afterwards, "Guys, come on, comedy gold. Where's a Silurian audience when you need one? Anyway, two eye-line screens - velocity and trajectory. Steer away from Earth, try not to bump into the moon otherwise the races who live there will be livid."

"What?" Brian barely had a clue of what had just been said.

"The primary controls are on the arms of the chairs, see?" Minerva pointed to so and so for them, "It's kinda like driving a car back on Earth."

"Eight minutes, 45 seconds," the Doctor announced after activating the chairs with the sonic, "Get us as far away as you can. Right, phase two sorted. Now for phase one."

"Phase two comes after phase one," Amy rolled her eyes and moved after him.

"Like he'd ever learn," Minerva scoffed, "I do hope our baby doesn't inherit that."

"Well I would hope so," the Doctor straightened and looked at her, "cos I don't want my baby to be so linear."

"Are you saying _I'm_ linear?" Minerva leaned on her hip and raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor's eyes flickered to Amy who mouthed 'don't' as a warning for him to stay quiet. He focused on the work before him instead, "Amy, shine the torch in here, please?"

"Idiot," he heard Minerva mutter.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked after doing his request, also attempting to help avoid an argument between the two.

"Mixing my messages," he dismissed and yanked out wires, "How's the job?"

"We're about to be hit by missiles and you're asking me that?" Amy raised an eyebrow but then figured it was his attempt to help stay off the 'linear' conversation and decided to help him out, "I gave it up."

"What?" it seemed to be working since Minerva walked closer to them, "But you gave the last one up."

"Yeah, well I can't settle," Amy admitted, "Every minute, I'm listening out for that stupid TARDIS sound."

"Right, so it's our fault now, is it?!" the Doctor frowned, doing his best not to sound offended.

"I can't not wait for you guys," Amy shrugged, "Even now. And they're getting longer, the gaps between your visits..."

"We're really trying not to," Minerva reminded and even the Doctor agreed with a nod.

"I think you're weaning us off you," Amy accused the thought she and Rory had been feeling for months now, "And that's not fair," she pointed at them, "because we told you we want to be there when the baby is born. You _promised_."

"And we're keeping our promise," Minerva settled her hands on her stomach, "Look," she chuckled, "still the same boat size as I was last time. We get it wrong but it's not on purpose. From our timeline it's only been a couple weeks since we last seen you."

"I know," Amy acknowledged their attempts and sighed, "It's just, the gaps...I worry there'll come a time when you never turn up, that something will have happened to you two and I'll still be waiting, never knowing."

"No," the Doctor smiled, "C'mon, Pond," he kissed the top of her head, "You'll be there till the end of us."

"Or vice versa," Amy mumbled nervously and endured the looks from the pair, knowing it wasn't an easy topic for either of them. Thankfully, the screwdriver's beeping interrupted them.

"Done," the Doctor stood up and pulled out the remaining innards of the post to set them over the rim.

Zohar and Riddell re-entered the room, both looking pretty disappointed, "I think we're going to need backup," Zohar breathed.

"That'll be me," Amy raised her hand and walked over, "Let's go!"

"I thought I was commander," Zohar went after her with Riddell.

"I'm coming," Minerva declared to the Doctor as he went for the crystal on the machinery.

"What?" he frowned, "No-"

"Aha!" she'd snatched the crystal as well as taking his free hand, successfully teleporting them both away.

They teleported onto Solomon's ship. The Doctor pointed at her, incredibly irritated she'd just done that, "Not okay!"

"Sh," she held a hand to stop him from talking, "So, having trouble leaving?" she called to Solomon as well as pressing live wires to the robots. Solomon stood up and faced the two, "We haven't met, I'm Minerva, did I mention I'm a queen too?" she narrowed her eyes at him, "And I absolutely _detest_ people who threaten my friends. Your ship's magnetized so you're not going anywhere until I say so."

"Release my ship," Solomon raised a weapon at Nefertiti, "or I kill this precious little object."

Nefertiti wasn't one for being attacked and promptly kicked Solomon's cane from under him, making him fall to the floor. She grabbed the cane and held its pointy end to his neck, "I am not your possession now, nor will I ever be. Now stay there."

The Doctor sucked a deep breath as he sauntered over and leaned down, "Word of advice, don't ever cross Queens," he headed for the controls, "They're like roses with thorns."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Minerva wagged a finger at him with a smirk.

"What're you doing?!" Solomon demanded as he watched the Doctor mess with the controls.

"Disabling this ship's signal and replacing it with the one from the Silurian ship. I send this craft off emitting the signal they're looking for, the missiles will follow. Hopefully Silurian ship safe, dinosaurs safe, everybody safe," the Doctor checked his watch, "Bit tight for time though, shouldn't really be chatting. Clever Girl, Neffy, let's go," he started for Minerva but stopped when she waved the crystal in her hands.

"Oh but look, we nearly forgot," she tilted her head as she studied the crystal, "The thing about missiles, very literal, this is what they latch on to," she carefully set it on a table, and allowed for the Doctor to use the sonic on it, "Now, one press on this and the ship's demagnetized."

Solomon saw his chances of survival dwindling and resorted to begs, "Doctor, whatever you want, I can get it for you, whatever object you desire."

"Did the Silurians beg you to stop?" the Doctor countered and checked the computer screens, "Look, Solomon. The missiles. See them shine. See how valuable they are. And they're all yours," he interlocked hands with Minerva and headed out with Nefertiti.

"You wouldn't leave me, Doctor..."

The Doctor pressed the button and closed the gate, "Enjoy your bounty," he waved and continued on for hopefully the TARDIS.

~ 0 ~

Nefertiti and Riddell were returned back home - well Riddell was, Nefertiti was...also returned to the same era as he was. Minerva had been left to deal with the Egyptian kingdom's king instead. Still, they figured nothing bad could happen with the new era-switch. Unfortunately, the Ponds decided not to stay in the TARDIS for the moment. They had several things to do back home and only requested for Minerva and the Doctor to come by within weeks for the aliens' timelines. And Minerva was upset that even if the Doctor was clearly not okay with the new arrangement he still wouldn't talk to her about it.

Even then, as he watched the Ponds, along with Brian, peacefully watch planet Earth from the TARDIS threshold, the Doctor couldn't bring up the subject to her. Minerva had excused herself for some rest and left him to tend to the Ponds until they left.

The Ponds seemed content with their little family and the Doctor wondered about the day that would come when Amy and Rory would declare they wished to remain on Earth for good. It always happened, in the end. Martha had done it, Donna had done it, even Jack had done it. And far more before them had done it. Eventually, he was left alone. He felt the Pond's departure was slowly looming and it frankly left him despondent. Could he handle another departure?

' _Theta, can I get more yarn please?_ ' he heard Minerva's soft voice inside his mind. Startled, he looked around the console and remembered she was in their room...and clearly she needed more _yarn_?

He left the Ponds to continue their peaceful moment with Brian and headed into the corridors. He picked up yarn from Minerva's art room - of a light pink shade - and finally entered their bedroom. Minerva was sitting on her side of the bed, resting against the headboard, while knitting - or attempting to. She looked up at him with a bright smile, "Hey, you brought more," she beamed at the sight of the needed yarn.

"Run out already?" he came over and handed the yarn to her.

"I messed up as usual," she mumbled and continued her attempts to knit. She'd taken her knitting lessons serious and was trying to knit a pair of pink booties for their arriving baby...but it wasn't going too well, "But I'm gonna try again."

The Doctor watched her in amusement as she tried knitting again, "You should do that, because I know the baby is going to love it."

Minerva beamed, "Hope so. Less than three months, can you believe it?" she chuckled as she felt kicks inside her stomach, "I think she's excited."

" _He_ ," the Doctor pointed and gently placed his hand on her stomach to feel the kicks, "he is _very_ excited to come into the world. And he should be," he leaned to her face, "cos he has a very beautiful mummy waiting to hold him."

"Where?" Minerva's eyes flickered around the room.

"Right here," he declared in a whisper and kissed her.

Minerva sported a blush on her face after the kiss and hoped to change the subject to cool down, "Are the Ponds still here?" he nodded quietly, "You don't want to go back out there with them? I'm okay here, honest."

And the Doctor did consider it for a moment or two. But he started watching Minerva attempt her knitting again and found he would much rather be here with her. Sure, the Ponds were going to leave one day, perhaps soon...but he had a family now. He had a baby on the way who was going to need him just as much as he was going to need his mother.

He felt like he would be just fine with his family in their blue box.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

Hello! Sorry for the late update. The first week of school has passed and it left quite a lot of homework *sighs. But anyways, here you go with this interesting episode. I always found it kind of random but then again, when has Doctor Who ever not been random?

 ** _For the Reviews:_**

I know, the Dalek Asylum was actually my first episode I ever watched for this show so it holds a little extra value. It's so sad in general but it still holds a lot of action lmao. Ah yes, the Ponds will be leaving us very soon *sobs a little* but I do have plans for Clara's arc so hopefully that'll make up for it! And thank you for reading it!

Like from Harry Potter? I don't know, it doesn't really interest me. Actually, I never really thought about a HP story. But if I would it would probably be with another character :).

I mean it can be bittersweet but there's still plenty of 11 left! Oh my I remember writing that story lol and it has a couple of differences so just hold on okay ^.^ we're getting to it! Yeah no I fixed that chapter title I don't know why I wrote the incorrect one. I guess I wasn't paying much attention lmao. Oooh those are very interesting names actually. I'll keep them in mind for other names! Oh my god do get a Wahoo lmao it's so much fun to play! And yes, I did hear about John Hurt and I was so sad about it. Both HP & Whovian fandoms are terribly sad. He'll be missed greatly *insert heart emoji*.

Well it's a 50/50 chance so who knooooows ;). Either way I can tell you that they will be adorable and cause Clara some headaches xD.

Yes! I've been waiting for this arc for such a long time! I really hope you guys will like it!

* * *

That's pretty much it again! Hope you guys like the stories and leave a comment to share! Until next time guys!


	3. Mercy Town

A desert town was the new place the time travelers had stopped by - even if it was by accident. Still, there were various factors that brought them into the almost desolate town. For starters, there were street lamps in the town! _Electric_ lamps that were at least ten years early before it proper time. Even then, as the Doctor used the sonic on the lamps, he couldn't find anything that yelled 'danger'. Minerva remained a couple steps back studying the people that were watching them almost in hiding. People were inside buildings, nervously watching their every moves, as if they would be hurt by them. That couldn't be good.

"Something is seriously wrong," she declared with a small sigh.

"Anachronistic electricity, keep-out signs, aggressive stares..." the Doctor counted on his fingers with excitement, "Has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?" he took out a toothpick from his jacket's pocket and began for the Saloon nearby.

"Can that end well?" Amy glanced at the alien ginger with nervousness.

"Rhetorical question," Minerva sighed again and followed the Doctor.

The bustling saloon stopped the moment the Doctor entered the place. The Time Lord didn't seem to notice as he made his way to the bartender at the counter, "Tea," he began in an American accent, "But the strong stuff. Leave the bag in," he tried to be cool (not for Minerva, nope, absolutely not) and flick the toothpick in his mouth...only to get it stuck.

"What you doing here, son?" the bartender questioned him, slightly amused but more confused.

"Miserably trying to be cool for me, I'm afraid," Minerva playfully rolled her eyes as she came up beside him, clearly having heard part of his thoughts, "See, cos I'm American, but he's English. Thinks I'll like him even more if he puts on an American giddup," she shot the Doctor a smirk, "but he's just an idiot altogether, but he's _my_ idiot."

"Could've told me that _before_ I put the toothpick in my mouth," he huffed and chucked the toothpick back.

"Didn't exactly give me the opportunity," she pointed out.

"Sir," one of the men at the tables stood up and cut into the conversation, "might I enquire who you is?"

"Of course," the Doctor turned around, mistaking the curiosity for politeness, "I am the Doctor, this is my wife-" but all the men in the saloon stood up, "You see that?" he looked at the others, "Manners," an elderly man walked up to the Doctor and started measuring his shoulders. The Doctor glanced back at the man with a smile, "Oh, thank you, but I don't need a new suit."

"But if you can knit," Minerva poked her head around the Doctor, "then I would really appreciate some lessons."

A younger man within the saloon stepped forwards, "I got a question. Is you an alien?" he directed the question at the Doctor.

Minerva thought it weird the question was being directed at the Doctor and only him. Anyone who was curious would have asked the question to all of them. Then again, an old western town shouldn't even be thinking about aliens...

Oh, something was very wrong indeed.

"Well, um..." the Doctor looked at Minerva, both agreeing the question was strange, "...bit personal. It's all relative, isn't it? I mean, I think _you're_ the aliens. But in this context, yes. Yes, I suppose I am," and then the Doctor found himself being carried off by the men out the saloon.

"Put him down!" Minerva cried as she, Amy and Rory were also taken custody and brought out after the Doctor, "Doctor! Put him down!"

"Don't think we won't kill you," one of the men bringing her threatened.

"Oh, good for you, you'll kill a pregnant woman. Morality gone wrong," Minerva rolled her eyes.

For some reason, the townsfolk had brought the Doctor to the entrance of town and thrown him over.

He stood up and cracked his back from the fall. Just as he turned back to get into town, he was aimed at with all the guns possible to kept him still. Alarmed, he raised his hands in surrender. Behind him, a mysterious figure began teleporting its way to town.

"He's coming," the preacher annpunced, his voice shaky, "Oh, God. He's coming."

The same young man from before called to the preacher, "Preacher... Say something."

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done..."

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder to see want the commotion was all about. Upon seeing the figure coming his way, he quickly tried to get back into town but the guns were once again raised up. However, a gunshot was fired from behind the crowd. When the crowd opened up they saw a new man holding the firing gun, clearly the marshall of town by the deputy badge be wore.

"You. Bow tie," he pointed to the Doctor, "Get back across that line. Now."

Without hesitation, the Doctor got back into town and just like that the figure went away.

"Isaac," the young man moved to Isaac, "he said he was a doctor... an _alien_ doctor."

"That a reason to hand him to his death?"

"But, Isaac, it could be him!"

"You know it ain't," Isaac shook his head and turned to leave, "Ma'ams," he gave nods to Minerva and Amy as he walked by.

The Doctor dusted himself off and straightened his jacket before following after Isaac. The townsfolk were left pretty irritated but none of the travelers cared for their comments.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor held the door open to Isaac's office for his wife and companions. Isaac had taken a seat on the corner of his desk, looking weary which the Doctor assumed was for the mysterious man outside of town.

"What was that outside?" he asked the human.

"The Gunslinger," Isaac sighed.

"Interesting name," Minerva remarked politely though she knew the name must have emerged from the fear within the town.

"Showed up three weeks back. We've been prisoners ever since," Isaac finished the story in a short, basic way, "You see that borderline, stretching round the town? Woke up one morning, there it was. Nothing gets past it, in or out. No supply wagons, no reinforcements. Pretty soon, the whole town's going to starve to death."

"But... he let _us_ in," Rory interjected quietly.

"You ain't carrying any food, just four more mouths to feed. We'll all die even sooner now."

"So, what would happen if someone...crosses the line?" Minerva dared to ask the question she knew wouldn't have a very good answer. And sure enough, Isaac chucked a steston to her to give her the answer, "Well..." she studied the bullet-size hole.

"Well he wasn't a very good shot then," the Doctor remarked as he lifted the hat to see.

"Uh, dear, I think he was _aiming_ for the hat," Minerva whispered to him, making his eyes widen.

"He shoots people's hats?!"

"I think it was a warning shot," Amy corrected him quietly.

"Ah, no, yes, I see, hmm..." the Doctor passed on the hat to Rory beside him.

"What does the gunslinger want, exactly?" Minerva asked Isaac, the thought just now entering her mind, "Has he issued some kind of demand?"

Amy had received the hat and after a couple seconds realized she didn't want it, so the hat made its way back to Rory, back to the Doctor and finally to Minerva.

"He says he wants us to give him 'the alien doctor," Isaac said and made everyone look at the Doctor.

Meanwhile, though, Minerva was looking at the hat again and decided to slowly bring it up and placed it on her head. She liked it. It made her feel cool...like a cool space cowgirl. Yeah, that sounded nice.

Her attention span was dangerously poor nowadays.

"But that's you," Amy pointed at the Doctor, confused, "Why would he want to kill you? Unless he's met you."

"And how could he know we'd be here?" Rory whispered, equally confused as his wife, "We didn't even know we'd be here."

Amy smiled at Isaac, "We were aiming for Mexico. The Doctor was taking us to see the Day of the Dead Festival. Minerva had a craving for tamales or something."

"Hm?" at the sound of her name Minerva had looked at them with big brown eyes. The Doctor studied her a moment with the hat on and pointed at it with slight amusement.

' _I liked the hat_ ,' she said in his mind, furthering the amusement for him.

' _It looks good on you_ ,' he complimented with a wink, making her blush.

Too engulfed in their mind talks, they missed Isaac responding to Amy's statement, "Mexico's 200 miles due south."

"Oh, well," Amy was disappointed of the lack of piloting skills in the TARDIS. The Doctor's poor skills were no surprise for her but now even Minerva was slacking off! Granted, the woman was eight months pregnant and her mind was probably filled with baby names, baby clothes, nursery rooms and whatnot. Amy then wondered why the hell neither of them had bothered teaching her or Rory how to pilot the TARDIS. Teaching them would've avoided all these types of problems!

Minerva cleared her throat after realizing she and the Doctor had gotten out of the conversation, "So, um," she glanced at Isaac with a polite, apologetic smile, "we should probably meet the poor hunted man."

"Who?" Isaac raised an eyebrow.

"Well clearly you know who this 'alien doctor' is because you defended my husband - by the way thank you for that - with 100% certainty," Minerva shrugged casually, the connections (when wanting to) connecting in her mind, "And judging by that sign outside, it's pretty clear he was loved by this town because of the lovely electricity you have going on here," she gestured to the ongoing flickering light in the room, "But due to fear of the townsfolk he's had to be put away or else he'd be sent out to be killed by the Gunslinger. And where's the safest place in this town?" she opened her arms to gesture to the entire room, "The police station."

"Clever," the Doctor concluded with a breath of awe.

"Thank you," Minerva blushed and flicked her hat up to have better sight.

Unfortunately, Isaac was too pleased with the declarations of the ginger, "I don't know what you..."

"It's all right, Isaac. I think the time for subterfuge has passed," a man's voice called from the holding cell, making everyone look back to see a late middle-aged man getting up from the bunk, "Good afternoon," he greeted the travelers, "My name is Kahler-Jex. I'm the doctor."

"Oh, I know your kind," Minerva pointed and smiled, "Personally, I love your knack for building stuff out of complete trash. Let him out," she told Isaac quickly.

"I agree with my wife," the Doctor shook Jex's hand, showing his excitement through a vigorous handshake, "The Kahler race is one of the most ingenious races in the galaxy, seriously. They could build a spaceship out of Tupperware and moss."

Amy gently pushed the two excited aliens back onto chairs - for their own good, "All right. How did you get here?" she looked at Jex who'd made himself comfortable sitting behind Isaac's desk.

"My craft crashed about a mile or so out of town. I would have died if Isaac and the others hadn't pulled me from the wreckage."

"So you stayed as their doctor?" Minerva seemed completely engulfed in the story.

"On my world, I was a surgeon, so it seemed logical," Jex elaborated, "and it gave me an opportunity to repay my debt to them."

"Listen to him. Talking like it was nothing. Tell them about the cholera," Isaac clapped Jex on the back.

"Now, Isaac, I'm sure our guests aren't..."

Seeing Jex would not do it, Isaac went ahead and told the side story, "Two years after he arrived, there was an outbreak of cholera. Thanks to the doc here not a single person died."

'A minor infection we'd found a treatment for centuries ago," Jex dismissed casually.

"No, no, no. What do you call them? The lectricks?"

"Using my ship as a generator, I was able to rig up some rudimentary heating and lighting for the town," Jex g es tu red to electric lamps in the room.

The Doctor leaned forwards, curiously asking, "So why does the Gunslinger want you?"

"It don't matter," Isaac tried to push away the topic.

"I'm just saying, if we knew..."

"America's a land of second chances," Isaac declared, "We called this town Mercy for a reason. Others... Some round here don't feel that way."

"They want to throw you out," Minerva realized and looked at Jex with pity.

"People whose lives he's saved are suddenly saying we should hand him over," Isaac sighed, clearly disappointed in the townsfolk.

"They're scared, that's all," Jex shrugges, "You can hardly blame them."

"Them being scared, scares me," Isaac cut in, "War only ended five years back. That old violence is still under the surface. We give up Doc Jex, then we're handing the keys of the town over to chaos."

"Did you try to repair your craft? Surely someone with your skills..." the Doctor would've figured the ship would've been easy to fix for a Kahler.

Jex shook his head, "It really was very badly damaged."

The Doctor rose to his feet as the plan came into view, "We evacuate the town. Our ship's just over the hills. Room for everyone. I'll pop out, bring it back here. Robert's your uncle."

Amy wasn't buying that, "Really? Simple as that? No crazy schemes? No negotiations?" even Minerva was oddly looking at the Doctor for his plan that lacked excitement.

"I've matured," the Doctor excused, "I'm 1,200 years old now. Plus, I'm going to be a dad - I can't go running around like I used to," he helped Minerva stand and plucked her hat off.

"Hey," she frowned as he put it on his head.

"I've got to be more responsible," the Doctor tapped her nose and smiled.

Amy, however, still wasn't buying it. Her scoff made the couple look at her, "Please. Next thing I see is you & my future God child running straight for trouble. And don't think I won't parent the both of you."

For a moment, Minerva pictured Amy scolding the Doctor and their baby for purposely doing something stupid. Minerva laughed internally as she wondered if her baby would inherit her sweet smile abilities to get out of trouble, leaving the poor Doctor to take the blame on his own.

Her attention had shifted once more without realizing.

The Doctor had moved for the doors while ignoring Amy's previous statement, "It's a mysterious space cowboy assassin, I think I can handle it," he stepped out leaving the room confused.

"Son?" Isaac called and made the Doctor return, "You've still got to get past the Gunslinger. How you going to do that?"

"With a little sleight of hand," the Doctor smiled and once again left, everyone still remaining confused.

~ 0 ~

Minerva wasn't pleased the Doctor had basically forced her to stay behind with Amy and Jex while he went to retrieve the TARDIS. Isaac had switched to Jex's clothes to distract the Gunslinger and so he and Rory went out to the mountains for the task. Minerva knew, oh she knew, that he would definitely go searching for something else. She wanted to accompany him to get him out of trouble. But the fact he was riding horse (which she was still terrified of) and she was pregnant didn't go.

No other alternatives at hand, she returned to Isaac's office where Amy and Jex waited. Also feeling tired, she decided to take a seat behind the desk.

"Need anything?" Amy asked as she sat at the corner of the desk.

"Yes, actually," Minerva sighed and leaned back on her chair, "Not to be afraid of horses and to finally be done with this," she frantically gestured to her stomach, making Amy laugh, "I just want my baby, so get out already! Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Amy laughed again and stood off the desk, "Two more months. Be patient," she patted Minerva's shoulder then turned for Jex who had taken position in front of the window. She decided to make conversation with him too, seeing Minerva slightly distracted as she munched on minty leaves again, "When this is all done, do you want us to take you home?"

Sensing the question was for him, Jex looked back, "Thank you, but I have already given everything I have to the Kahler. My skills, my energy... all that was good in me. But here... I could start afresh. I could remember myself and help people. That's all I ever wanted to do. End suffering."

"You and us all, buddy," Minerva commented from her chair.

Amy grabbed Jex's jacket from the desk and draped it around the man's shoulders, "Here."

Jex studied her for a minute, "You're a mother, aren't you?"

"How did you know?" Amy blinked, taken aback by the sudden question - assumption.

"There's kindness in your eyes. And sadness. But a ferocity too."

"It wasn't exactly straightforward."

"It seldom is."

"What about you, Jex?" Minerva questioned curiously, "Are you a father?"

Jex paused a moment and looked to the side, thoughtful, "Yes. In a way, I suppose I am."

Minerva raised an eyebrow, clearly intending to further question him but she felt a baby kick and...well...grew distracted - again. Lately the baby had been more active, especially when they were caught up in adventures like these. It seemed like it would inherit its parents sense of curiosity. She couldn't wait to see what her baby would be like!

Minerva began fiddling with her fingers, precisely her wedding ring finger, since she felt a small pain shoot through it. She pressed on her fingers and made a face of irritation. She tried taking her ring off but she found it wouldn't work. It was stuck! Her ring was stuck? Was her hand swollen!?

The sound of an alarm blared from outside, snapping Minerva out of her thoughts. Like Amy and Jex, Minerva looked at the window and rose to her feet.

"That's an alarm," she frowned, "but we're in the old west?"

Amy rushed for the door and opened it up to go outside. Minerva and Jex hurried after her.

"That's the alarm on my ship!" Jex realized.

"Maybe the Doctor wants to get it working again," Amy shrugged and looked at Minerva for a comment.

"Probably," she agreed, "Who was he kidding? He couldn't 'mature' for anything in the world."

"But that wasn't the plan," Jex muttered and returned inside the office.

Minerva glanced back in suspicion at the man. He seemed far too concern for a silly little plan that hadn't gone exactly as said.

"How much trouble do you think he's going to bring to himself?" Amy asked calmly, right now more concerned for Rory since the Gunslinger was probably closer to him than the Doctor.

Minerva glanced at her with a mischievous smile, "Out of ten...eleven."

Amy had to laugh at that, "Nice one," she turned and headed in for the office.

"Thank you," Minerva beamed and went after her.

They were both surprised to find Jex holding a gun at them, nervously, "He really should have stuck to the plan."

Minerva sighed and rubbed her head, "You are going to make it a lot harder to defend you."

"Don't move," Jex warned as he backed into his cell while aiming the gun at them.

"Why are you doing this?" Amy wasn't very scared, she was more confused of the actions being taken.

"That's easy," Minerva frowned at the man, 'He has secrets. Secrets I'm sure the Doctor is finding out right now. Isn't that right?"

Jex looked at her a moment, hard eyes narrowing at her but he continued to take things into his pockets, "Isaac says he doesn't care about my past. But things may have been uncovered that even he might struggle to forgive," he returned and went for the doors.

"So you want to escape," Minerva stopped him with her words, "See, couple problems there Einstein. One, the Doctor is in your ship, and the Gunslinger is bound to be close by it meaning your escape isn't happening. Two, since the Gunslinger is going for the Doctor, Isaac and Rory are coming back here. You're kind of screwed," she finished in a sense of amusement.

Jex didn't take her tone quite nicely and grew angrier, "Well I wasn't planning on leaving alone. We'll make a hasty retreat."

"We?" Amy blinked, not liking that part, "We're coming with you?"

"It's unlikely the Gunslinger will shoot if I'm with you. As far as I can tell, he's programmed to take innocent lives only if absolutely necessary."

"Well, color me reassured," Amy raised her hands in a mock defeat.

Jex backed out of the door with the gun aimed at the two gibgers, expecting them to follow.

However, another gun clicked from outside, freezing Jex on his tracks, "Doc, what are you doin'?" Isaac asked as he and Rory forced Jex back into the room.

"Oh didn't you hear?" Minerva crossed her arms, unable to help the smirk on her face, "He was making his hasty retreat. Told you you were screwed."

Jex was cornered to the wall and was trapped between Minerva, Amy, Rory, and Isaac. There was certainly not going to be an escape chance for him.

"Can you just tell us what was so important in that ship that you felt the need to threaten us with a gun?" Minerva raised her eyebrows, her sense of amusement gone and replaced with irritation.

"It was stupid of me, I realize that now," Jex began but Minerva cut him off there.

"You realized that when exactly? In the last 10 seconds since you were actually still threatening us?"

Jex sighed and began again, "I just thought I'd put you all in enough danger, perhaps if I left..."

He was interrupted again but this time by the Doctor, "He's lying. Every word," he strolled through the room and went straight for Jex, "Everything he says, it's... all... lies. This man is a murderer."

"I am a scientist," Jex declared.

"Sit down," the Doctor ordered quietly. Jex remained standing and only angered the Doctor, "SIT DOWN!" he yelled the order, "Tell them what you are."

"What am I? A war hero," Jex nearly scoffed.

"What's going on?" Minerva asked the Doctor quietly, trying to recall the last time she'd seen him so angry.

"The Gunslinger is a cyborg," the Doctor went for the short version. Minerva smelt like mint which meant she'd been munching on the leaves again from nausea. If he told her everything he saw she would never recover from nausea again.

"He's a cyborg?" Minerva blinked, "What?"

"A what?" Isaac also questioned since he didn't understand.

"Half man, half machine," the Doctor explained, all the meanwhile glaring at Jex, "A weapon. Jex built it. He and his team took volunteers, told them they'd be selected for special training, then experimented on them, fused their bodies with weaponry and programmed them to kill!"

"OK, why? Why would you do that, doc?" Isaac turned to Jex, not as affected by the others from lack of understanding.

"We'd been at war for nine years. A war that had already decimated half of our planet. Our task was to bring peace, and we did. We built an army that routed the enemy and ended the war in less than a week," Jex looked at the Doctor with calmness, almost undignified, "Do you want me to repent? To beg forgiveness for saving millions of lives?!"

"And how many died screaming on the operating table before you had _found_ your advantage?!" the Doctor was controlling himself from yelling again but he was dangerously close to losing.

"War is another world. You cannot apply the politics of peace to what I did, to what any of us did."

"But you experimented on people," Minerva reminded softly, "Do you not feel remorse for hurting those people? Innocent people?"

Jex did not answer the question, and Minerva couldn't stick around for the answer either as the Doctor pulled her away from him and the rest of the group.

Once across the room, she looked up at him with a questioning face, ' _What did you see?_ ' she asked him.

' _It's not going to do you any good,_ ' the Doctor replied to her.

' _Well you're not doing too hot either,_ ' she countered, crossing her arms.

 _'Minerva, please, it's too gruesome, alright? You don't need those types of images in your mind_ ,' and finishing that conversation, he kissed her head and held her close. He didn't want her anywhere near that man.

Meanwhile, the humans were continuing to question Jex, "But what happened then? How come you're here?" Rory was asking now.

"When the war ended, we had the cyborgs decommissioned. But one of them must have got its circuitry damaged in battle. It went offline and began hunting down the team that created it, until just two of us were left. We fled and our ships crashed here."

Rory looked over to the couple for some help. Unfortunately, the Doctor was in some kind of trance and Minerva was trying to get back his attention, thus rendering themselves useless at the moment. Rory shook his head and looked at the others for opinions, "So what do we do with Jex?"

Isaac looked at him like he was crazy, "What do we do with him!?" he repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah, I mean he's a war criminal."

"No," Isaac shook his head, "he's the guy that saved the town from cholera, the guy that gave us heat and light."

Before an argument could ensue, Amy intervened, "Look, Jex may be a criminal and yeah, kinda creepy..."

Jex frowned, "And still in the room!"

Amy rolled her eyes, ignoring him for the moment, "But I think we should put aside what he did and find another solution."

"Another solution?" it was Rory's turn to be disbelieving, "It's him or us!"

Amy turned on him with hands on hips, not liking what she was hearing, "When did we start letting people get executed? Did I miss a memo? Doctor, Minerva, tell him."

Minerva was aware of the attention back on her and the Doctor again, and seeing the Doctor was still quite out of it she decided to take charge of the situation, "Well, I guess..." she looked at Jex, unable to decide on the spot the future of the man, "...I mean...um..."

The Doctor placed a hand on her arm and stopped her from talking, "Don't," she didn't need to break her head over a man who wasn't worth it.

Jex pulled on his monocle to clean it but all the meanwhile he was studying the Doctor, "Looking at you, Doctor, is like looking into a mirror. Almost. There's rage there, like me. Guilt, like me. Solitude. Everything but the nerve to do what needs to be done. Thank the Gods my people weren't relying on you to save them..."

The Doctor didn't let him finish that already bad sentence when he rushed for the man, "No, NO!" he yanked Jex up by the arm, "But these people are!"

"Doctor," Minerva barely had time to say his name when the Doctor had pushed Jex out the office. She rushed after him, or waddled a bit - her running was not as great as it used to be, "Doctor!" she called but only made two steps outside the office when she felt a small jab at the side of her stomach, "Ah!" she fell on her side against the railing outside the office.

"Minerva!?" Amy was the first to notice since she practically pushed her way around a refusing Rory. She went to help the ginger then looked out for the Doctor - but the Time Lord was too far ahead to notice, "What do we do? Minerva? Rory!?"

Thankfully, Rory had stayed behind instead of Isaac. Quickly, he went to help as well, "Breath, Minerva, breathe. Now, I'm hesitant to say it's Braxton Hicks-"

"It's not," Minerva cut him off as she followed his instructions for deep breaths, "Emotions are rising...and...not good," she shook her head, "But forget me, get that Martian!" she pointed and rushed off however she could.

"Minerva!" Amy exclaimed and pulled Rory into a chase after the alien ginger.

The Doctor had already pushed Jex out the town, a crow of townsfolk watching the every move. He returned but only for a gun which he used to aim at Jex, warning the Kahler not to dare step back into town.

With hands raised, Jex dared to say, "You wouldn't."

"I genuinely don't know..." the Doctor warned.

"Put it down!" he heard Minerva yell from a distance, "Martian, put it down!"

"Stay back, Clever Girl," he swallowed hard, really wishing he wouldn't have to face her sooner or later.

Minerva felt like a child in a tantrum state but she was not going to let him do something he would regret. She looked around and snatched a gun from a nearby townsfolk and shot it to the sky, " _Enough_ ," she declared and made him turn around to give him the surprise, "Let him come back, Doctor!"

"Minerva..." the Doctor felt terrified to see her holding a gun, but then again...could he really tell her to put it down? He was doing the same exact thing.

Thankfully, Minerva got rid of the gun as she handed it back to the person she'd taken it from, "Thank you," she whispered then faced the Doctor, "You're going to let him come back in," she pointed to the frozen Jex, "Because that is not who you are - that is not who _we_ are."

The Doctor lowered his gun and rushed to her, "But we could end this right now. We could save everyone _right now_!"

"Yeah. We could," she agreed, "but then what happens later, hm? When we're ready to go to sleep and you remember what you did? Tell me how are you going to get past that? _Can_ you get past that?"

"Jex _has_ to answer for his crimes-"

"Yes, and I am all for that, but in the _right_ way."

"But Minerva," he dropped the gun and took her head into his hands, desperate for her to understand him, "They keep coming back, don't you see? Every time I negotiate, I try to understand. Well, not today! No! Today I honor the victims first! His, the Master's, the Daleks', all the people who died because of _my mercy_!"

"I married a good man, I'd like him to come to his senses," Minerva tapped the side of his head and smiled, trying to ignore the fact the Gunslinger was teleporting closer and closer to the town, "The quicker you do that the quicker we get back to business."

"But Minerva-"

"AH!" she yelped and lurched forwards, startling the Doctor and pretty much everyone else around them.

"What is it!?" alarmed, the Doctor tried to help her stand straight, "Minerva!"

"It hurts," she clutched her stomach, "Emotions..."

"They're high," he realized he'd been putting too much on her and instantly regretted it, "Minerva, I am so sorry! I didn't...I didn't think...I'm sorry!"

"Just say you'll let Jex come back, please," Minerva made faces of pain and desperately tried not to fidget as much.

"Okay! Okay! Done!" he quickly agreed and looked back at Jex, "Move over the line, _NOW_!" he hurried to Jex while motioning for him to get across.

What he missed was Minerva sending a wink to Amy and Rory, revealing she was faking her pains to get the Doctor to snap back to his senses. Quietly, the humans snickered to themselves.

Unfortunately, the fun ended when the Gunslinger arrived behind Jex, preventing such movement. Jex turned to face the Cyborg tremulously, "Make peace with your gods," the Gunslinger said.

"Kahler-Tek, isn't it?" Jex asked, "I remember all your names, even now. Please. I'd never hurt anyone again. I'm even helping people here."

"Last chance. Make peace with your gods."

"No!" Issac pushed Jex out of the way just as the Gunslinger had fired. Issac fell to the ground, nearly dead. The Doctor rushed to help and knelt beside Issac, "Isaac! Isaac, Isaac, it's OK, it's OK. It's OK, we can get you to Jex's surgery, he can save you."

Issac gripped his hand, already knowing his fate, "Listen to me, you've got to stay, you've got to look after everyone."

"It won't come to that, Isaac."

"Protect Jex. Protect my town. You're both good men... You just forget it sometimes..."

Upon Issac dying, the Doctor took his hand back and found the Marshall's badge in his palm. Slowly, he pinned it to his lapel then stood on his feet, turning around, "Take Jex to his cell. If anything happens to him, you'll have me to answer to," he warned the townsfolk. As Jex was taken away, he faced the Gunslinger who remained, "This has gone on long enough."

"You are right," the Gunslinger aimed his gun at the Doctor, "You've got until noon tomorrow. Give him to me, or I'll kill you all," with that, he turned and disappeared.

Sighing, the Doctor turned to face the remaining townspeople, though his concern was for Minerva. However, he was surprised to see her calm as ever, inspecting a strand of her hair - her attention span disabling her from following the events.

When she felt his stare, she looked up and blinked, reading his confused expression, ' _I faked the pains_ ,' she informed.

He narrowed his eyes with irritation, ' _Cheater_.'

His response was a wide smile, ' _No, I just used my circumstance to get you thinking straight. Now then, do I get to be deputy or what?'_

~ 0 ~

The night fell and with no where else to stay, the group remained in Isaac's office. Jex had been returned to his cell where he remained currently, in silence. Minerva fidgeted in her spot on the desk chair. She didn't want to admit she as actually rather sleep, after the little show she'd put in for the Doctor she was under supervision and was warned not to play that foul trick on him again.

Everything was going semi-good until the preacher came for them, "Marshall... Ma'am's, Fella. You need to come outside."

"Why, what's wrong?" the Doctor stood up from his spot outside the cell.

"Just come outside," the preacher insisted them look over to the holster hanging on a hook, "And you should put that on."

"It's that bad?" Minerva frowned as she stood up.

The preacher motioned to be followed as he stepped out first. Disliking the circumstances, the Doctor had to put on the holster belt before going out. Outside awaited a group of townsfolk, including the young man from earlier and the bartender.

"What's going on?" the Doctor slowly approached them, after warning Minerva to stay back.

The young man stepped forwards, clearly nervous, "He in there?" he nodded to the office, "Leave the keys and take a walk. Time you get back, this'll all be done."

"You can't be serious," Minerva started for them when Amy and Rory grabbed her arm and kept her back. They both agreed with the Doctor that this time it was just too dangerous.

Once the Doctor was sure Minerva was held onto tight, he focused on the townsfolk, "I promised Isaac I'd protect him."

"Protecting him got Isaac dead," the man reminded and looked around his friends, "Tomorrow it's going to get us all dead."

Another man, slightly older, moved up, "We thought Isaac was right to fight. But it's different now. We've got to say, "All right, we lost," and give that thing what it wants."

The bartender seemed to be one of the few who still remained sane as she still disagreed, "What it wants is to kill our friend."

"Look," the young man took control again, "we don't got ill feelin' toward the doc, we just thinkin''bout our families. Hand him over and we all safe again."

"You know I can't do that," the Doctor shook his head.

The man pushed back his coat to show his holster, "Then we got us a problem..."

With a small sigh, the Doctor also pushed his jacket to show he had a gun as well, "Please don't do this."

"Why? Reckon you quicker than me?"

"Almost certainly not," the Doctor stepped off the porch, "But this - lynch mobs, the town turning against itself - this is everything Isaac didn't want," the words didn't seem to make an impact since the man aimed his gun, "How old are you?"

"Nearly 19."

"That's 18 then," the Doctor nodded, "Too young to have fought in the war, so I'm guessing you've never shot anyone before, have you?"

The man cocked the hammer of the gun and shrugged, "First time for everything."

"But that's how all this started. Jex turned someone into a weapon. Now that same story is going to make you a killer too. Don't you see? Violence doesn't end violence, it extends it. I don't think you want to do this. I don't think you want to become that man."

"There's kids here," the man lowered the gun and gestured to the town.

"You think I don't know children are in danger?" the Doctor nodded back to his very pregnant wife behind, "Believe me when I say I will not allow for more deaths. I can save you all if you let me."

"He really worth the risk?" the man seemed to be only slightly less nervous.

"I don't know, but you are," the Doctor shrugged.

The man looked at him a moment before giving up and walking away. The rest of the townsfolk started dispersing seconds later, leaving the Doctor to take a breath and turn back for his wife and friends, "Frightened people. Give me a Dalek any day."

"Don't you ever keep me away again," Minerva angrily marched up to him, "I have earned my way to stand at your side and I will not be pushed back down again. Do you understand?"

The Doctor dimly smiled at her, "I was just trying to prevent any dangers for you, love. You saw that back there...?" he gestured back to where the townsfolk had been in.

"Oh, I saw," she crossed her arms, "and for that same reason," she smacked his arm, "you cannot make me stand back and watch some man hold a gun at you. That's even worse than..." she trailed off at the feeling of a jab again, a real one, "...oh..."

"Minerva..." the Doctor began to frown.

"Not joking this time, swear..." she took a deep breath and turned around, "...maybe sitting down and staying away won't be that bad..."

And then the Doctor knew she wasn't lying.

"Minerva I'm getting worried," he carefully and slowly brought her towards the others, "Rory said you felt another pain before you tricked me."

"That was real too," she assured while taking multiple deep breaths.

"Do you think she should see a doctor?" Amy asked them while returning into the office, "Like her Moontsay doctor?"

"After this," the Doctor promised Minerva and gently sat her down on a chair by the desk, "We are going to get you help."

"It's going away," Minerva tried to smile through the pain she clearly still felt. She leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes.

The Doctor hurriedly took off his holster and placed it back on the hook, sparing Jex only a sideways glance. Jex remained silent on his bunk.

"Maybe these really are Braxton Hicks," Amy whispered to Rory while Rory was overseeing Minerva's breaths.

"No, no," the Doctor cut them off as he returned to them, "it's too early for any of that stuff. There's still 2 months left!"

"Hate to break it to you, but babies can be born 2 months early," Amy gave him a look.

"It's okay, it's okay," Minerva cut in, "It's just, the hard day...and...and the people," she gestured to the window, "It's all just getting to me. I don't withstand as much as I used to."

"Don't lie to me, Clever Girl," the Doctor put his hands on either side of her head, "How's the pain? Do you think it's finally, um..." he swallowed hard, "... _time_?"

Minerva closed her eyes for a second and relaxed, the pains she was feeling slowly dissipating. They were still nuisance but not as before, "No..." she whispered, "...it's just the emotions, Martian," she opened her eyes and took a final deep breaths.

"Are you sure? Because I don't care if I have to force my way past the Gunslinger, I will get you to the TARDIS at all costs."

"Everything's fine," Minerva assured and looked up at Amy and Rory on either side of her seat, "Really guys, I'm just a fussy ole pregnant woman," and as if on cue, Minerva felt her baby kicking, alerting her he/she was just fine, "Oh, and look, baby's agreeing with me," she chuckled.

The Doctor dropped his hands to her stomach and even pressed an ear to feel, "Hey," he started smiling, "hey baby. Oh, I'm so sorry for putting mummy into distress. I promise it won't happen again."

Minerva smiled as the baby slowly stopped kicking, like it was soothing itself. She felt everything returning to normal, thankfully, "Okay, okay, let's all stop paying attention to fussy me and focus on the problem we have."

"Hey, let us take care of you," the Doctor raised his head to look at her, "This isn't the first time this has happened, remember."

"Yeah, from now on you really have to take things slow, Minerva," Rory put a hand on her shoulder, "Like Amy said, babies can be born earlier and just because it's not that uncommon doesn't mean it's that safe either. Let's try to be calmer, alright?"

"Gotcha," Minerva did a small salute and took a breath, "Calm Minerva, calm baby. Oh," she exclaimed and startled them all, "I think I have a plan..."

"Attention span is so poor," Amy declared with the disapproving shake of her head.

"No, hush," she raised a finger to Amy and motioned for the Doctor to stand, "Look, Martian, I think the best thing we can is let the Gunslinger and Jex fix their problems elsewhere. That means," she shifted on her chair to get a view of Jex in his cell, "you, Jex," she called, "need to leave this town. Because you and us both know that if you continue here, more people will die - if not the entire town will die."

"Are you sure...?" even Jex was confused by the plan Minerva had yet to fully explain.

"I don't like the idea of a criminal escaping," she narrowed her eyes at him, "but there is one thing the Gunslinger was right about, is that we cannot apply our own rules to this criminal act," she and the Doctor had spoken about his encounter with the Gunslinger at the desert and she did admit to him the Cyborg had been right about several things, "But we can and _will_ help this town survive. Therefore, you will leave this place. Run somewhere else because you have over-extended your stay here."

"Minerva..." the Doctor blinked, impressed. While her attention span wasn't in good condition, she still had her queen attitude and skills. When she wanted to, she applied herself and gave herself a new image of authority that dared anyone to defy her.

"Does anybody want to hear my plan?" Minerva looked around the place, drumming her fingers along her stomach, "It's actually really good..." she smirked to herself.

The Doctor looked around for anyone else wanting to speak, "No?" he asked them, "Alright, Clever Girl, the floor is yours," he gestured for her to begin explaining to them.

~ 0 ~

All around the town the next morning, not a sound could be heard - save for the light wind that occasionally blew. People had gathered together in several parts of the town, mostly, though, preferred to be inside the small chapel to pray.

The Doctor, in a rather forceful way, had Minerva and Amy stay inside the office with Isaac while he faced/distracted the Gunslinger outside. Rory was one of the men in the town who would help distract the Gunslinger with the Doctor. Minerva was quite irritated that _she_ had came up with the plan and yet she was being forced to stay on the sidelines, something she had avoided for years now.

And so, when the clock struck twelve in the office, Minerva felt her nervousness grow even more. They heard the clear sound of the Gunslinger arriving and without a word, she and Minerva hurried to the door to look out.

It wasn't long before they heard the shattering of windows from outside, signaling it was time to act. Amy went back to the desk and picked up the cell keys, "Ready?" she asked Jex.

"Remember," Minerva turned just as Jex was coming out, "you will go _straight_ to your ship and fly away," she gave him a warning look, daring him to defy the orders.

"I remember," Jex assured and nodded.

"Good," Minerva reached back for the door and opened it up for him, "Go," she nodded.

Without a word, Jex ran out the office. Minerva sighed and turned around to watch him go. Amy came up beside her, equally weary of the situation, "You think it'll work?"

"It's my plan," Minerva shrugged, "should work," she flashed a smirk, making Amy lightly chuckle.

"I _really_ hope my god child doesn't inherit its parents' cockiness," Amy rubbed her forehead while Minerva let out a small laugh.

Unfortunately, their laughter ended when they heard the blast of a door followed by screams of townspeople. Without even thinking, Minerva dashed outside - slightly more waddling - and saw scanned the damaged area.

"Minerva, you've got to come back," Amy hissed and went for the ginger, "The Doctor said-"

"The Doctor says a lot of things I never listen to," Minerva shook her head and went for the steps of the torch. She knew it was dangerous but people were in trouble and she wanted to help in any way possible.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor, now boring a painted Kahler symbol across one of his cheeks, found himself cornered by the Gunslinger. He had his hands raised in defeat as the Gunslinger aimed his weapon at him.

"Where is he?" the Gunslinger demanded.

"He's gone," the Doctor breathed.

"WHERE?! ANSWER ME!"

"He's _long_ gone," answered a different voice from behind the two.

The Doctor shut his eyes instantly, "No, no, no, no," he mumbled to himself in frustration.

She had done it again.

"Look up," Minerva instructed and even pointed up with a finger as the Gunslinger turned around, "Any second now you'll see the vapor trail of his ship. This town is _not_ the zone for your battle," she angrily declared, "This is a _home_. You take your battle elsewhere and fight it there. Go after Jex, take this battle away from..."

Through the speakers around them, they heard Jex's voice coming through, "Kahler-Tek. Kahler-Tek."

"Jex...?" the Gunslinger asked, "Coward! Where are you?!"

 _"I'm in my ship."_

"Jex, what are you doing?" the Doctor called, irritated even more with people just not following orders, "Just GO!"

Jex ignored the orders once more and traded it in for a question, " _Where are you from? Where on Kahler?"_

"Now?" Minerva was equally irritated, "Jex, you're asking him this _now_?"

"Gabrean," the gunslinger answered.

" _I know it. It's beautiful there. When this is over, will you go back?_ "

"How can I? I am a monster now."

". _..so am I._ "

"Just go!" the Doctor exclaimed, "Finish this!"

"I will find you. If I have to tear this universe apart, I will find you," promised the Gunslinger.

" _I don't doubt that_ ," Jex agreed with him, " _You'll chase me to another planet...And another race will be caught in the crossfire_."

"THEN FACE ME!"

 _'Countdown to self-destruct resumed.'_ went the ship's computer.

"FACE ME!"

" _No. You've killed enough,_ " declared Jex, " _I'm ending the war for you, too_."

Minerva stiffened once she caught the computer voice the second time, "What's going on? That countdown! What's going on Jex!?"

 _"Thank you, Doctor, Minerva. But I have to face the souls of those I wronged. Perhaps they will be kind."_

 _Three, two, one. Zero._

The explosion was heard but not felt. The three in town turned to find the trail of smoke rising into the sky.

The Gunslinger bowed his head and sighed, "He behaved with honor at the end. Maybe more than me."

Minerva saw it prudent (and safer) to come closer to the two, ignoring the Doctor's scolding look for her defiance, "If you want, we could take you back to your world. You could help with the reconstruction."

But the Gunslinger started walking away from the couple, "I will walk into the desert and self-destruct. I am a creature of war. I have no role to play during peace."

The Doctor looked around as everyone started coming out of their hiding places. Suddenly, a snap went in his mind and a grin appeared on his face, "Except maybe to protect it?"

~ 0 ~

"And the next time, for God's sake, Minerva, just _stay put!_ ," the Doctor had a wincing ginger in front of him who'd remained oddly quiet throughout his sermon about her defiance and issues.

The TARDIS was now beside them, having been brought back into town after everything had been resolved. They were on their way to the Monsoon to have Minerva get a check up. After the double incident with the 'Braxton hicks' they wanted to know what was going on. However, since Amy and Rory were taking their sweet time at the bar, the Doctor decided to discuss Minerva's little hero moment.

"Yes, it was your plan, and yes it was marvelous and could've worked," the Doctor was now making circles around the poor ginger, " _But_ it was completely unnecessary for you to leave the office. It was uncalled for, actually! Completely stupid! Dangerous!"

Minerva wanted to argue back, give her point of view...but he was right. She had been careless, period. Without noticing, she raised her head and revealed watery hazel eyes to the Doctor, "I'm sorry..."

The Doctor sighed and moved to stand in front of her, "I'm not angry with you, but I am upset. I know you don't mean to put yourself in danger...but try to understand me, okay? How do you think I feel when I see my very pregnant wife standing in front of a cyborg bent on revenge?"

Minerva looked to the side as she genuinely considered his side, "...well, um...not very, um..." she sighed then whispered, "...not very good."

"Not very good indeed," he crossed his arms.

She threw her head back and shut her eyes before she turned into a whole waterwork right there and then, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry! I just heard the screams and it was sort of an impulse. You know me, very impulsive."

"Oh, I know," the Doctor put his hands on her head and forced her to look at him again, "But how's about for rest of the 2 months you try not to do that again? Just until our baby is safe and sound in our arms and you are in condition to fight."

"I guess that sounds fair," she shrugged, "Are you still upset with me, then?"

The Doctor smiled at her curious eyes, "I can't stay mad at you, Clever Girl, and you know it," he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Thank you," she sheepishly smiled back.

"Now let's get you to the Monsoon, eh?" the Doctor opened up the TARDIS doors for her, "Amy! Rory!" he called to the pair, "Let's go!"

Minerva chuckled, "I bet they're having fun discovering all the good ole American drinks."

Seconds later, Amy and Rory emerged from the bar, both looking pretty sober despite the amount of time they spent in there.

"Okay," the Doctor clapped his hands, "so first stop is the Monsoon for Minerva's check up."

"But you two can go into the kingdom if you'd like," Minerva pointed at the humans, "Take a nice stroll or something in the meantime."

"Erm... could we actually get a ride home?" Amy awkwardly asked, "Our friends will start noticing that we're ageing faster than them."

"Sure," Minerva raised her eyebrows, startled by the question. She glanced at the Doctor for his comments, knowing it would run along the lines of him saying it was 'alright' and 'don't worry' because he wasn't saddened by that one bit, nope.

"Another time! No worries!" the Doctor clapped his hands again, showing the fake indifference he had been each time the Ponds decided to leave for home again.

Amy and Rory gave their thanks and went inside the TARDIS. The Doctor let out a small sigh afterwards, showing his real face to his wife. Minerva placed a hand on his arm, 'I'm here, and I'll always be here,' she reminded and placed his hand on her stomach, ' _We'll_ both be here until the end of time.'

The Doctor smiled honestly and kissed her forehead in thanks. That did make everything _much_ better.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

This was such a hard episode for me to watch because it showed such a darker and gultier side of the Doctor. Not as easy to write either! But anyways, here we go with another chapter! I gotta be honest I love writing a distracted Minerva!

 ** _For the Review:_**

Well, now it's 2 more chapters till the Ponds are gone :o. Lmao I think he was probably fearing for his life xD. Let's just say he gets the surprise of his life when we he sees Minerva lmao. Oh boy I can't relate with scary movies at all. I've literally watched like 4 in all my life: Jessabelle, Glasshouse, Oculus & Ouija. I'm pretty sure those aren't scary movies in other people's books haha xD. I don't its weird, it's just everyone's different when it comes to the media. And I suppose it would also help if you did watch all those before lmao.

Aaah that's coming up lmao, the baby's almost here! Hope you liked the newest chapter!

* * *

Soo, the next chapter's all about the mysterious cube invasion! As always, thank you for reading and leave a comment if you'd like!


	4. The Valiant Heroes

Minerva stared at her hands with utter disappointment. She closed and opened her mouth then glanced at her wedding ring that sat beside her. The Doctor walked into the room with a strawberry milkshake in hand and happily declared, "Craving fulfilled!"

Minerva looked at the milkshake with terror and quickly shook her head and scooted back on the bed, "N-n-n-n-no! No more!"

The Doctor stared at her with confusion, and frankly quite startled with the abruptiveness, "No?"

"No!"

"But...but you always like having milkshakes in the morning," the Doctor thought about it just in case he was wrong. But no, he distinctly remembered waking her up when she was human with a nice milkshake for breakfast.

"Not anymore," she declared and would've pulled her knees up if her stomach wasn't as big as it was.

Her fear was now concerning him. He knew she was starting to get into the emotional phase of the pregnancy since she was midway through her eighth pregnancy month. However, being afraid of a _milkshake_? That didn't quite sound right.

"Clever Girl...what's going on...?" the Doctor cautiously approached the foot of the bed and put a knee on it to get closer. He spotted the wedding ring on the bed stand beside her and frowned, "Are we afraid of the wedding ring too?"

Minerva's answer came in the form of a very harsh hit of a pillow on the side of the face.

"Sorry," he mumbled and cleared his throat before he looked at her again. She was staring at him with narrowed eyes and arms crossed.

He was in trouble.

"You want to tell me what's wrong?" the Doctor tried again, holding out the milkshake he'd made for her, "You told me you wanted one of these earlier, remember?"

Minerva looked to the side and rubbed her head. Of course she remembered, she still wanted the milkshake!

The Doctor leaned closer and held out the milkshake for her, "I need you to eat, Clever Girl. You know you have to, so what's wrong?"

Minerva slowly looked at him then held out a hand which she opened and closed, "My hands are swollen..."

"Hm?" he blinked and looked at her hands.

"My hands are swollen, my feet are swollen and nearly everything I eat is giving me heartsburn."

The Doctor considered the problems but still held the milkshake to her, "Now I am _very_ sorry you're going through all that but...and remember...you need to be completely healthy."

"Theta, my wedding ring doesn't fit anymore," Minerva whispered sadly and nodded to her wedding ring behind the Doctor.

"But that's temporary," the Doctor tried cheering her up, "and that has nothing to do with you eating your breakfast."

"Drinking," Minerva corrected and scooted off the bed, "and it's partly responsible for this. You don't understand, okay? I can't wear my ring right now so I won't be able to hear you in my head anymore. Maybe if I stop eating so much the swelling will go down."

"Minerva, sit," the Doctor had properly sat down on the side of the bed and was patting the spot beside him.

"No."

"Minerva," he pointed.

"No."

"Kaeya, please sit down," the Doctor pleaded softly and held a hand for her. With a sigh, Minerva returned and took his hand, allowing him to sit her down beside him, "Now then," he turned to her and put the milkshake in her hand, "the swollen hands and the feet will go away I promise you. No amount of eating is going to stop it nor increase it. So I want you to drink this," he tapped the side of the glass she held, "and enjoy your craving. Go on," he motioned and slowly Minerva began taking sips of it through the straw, "Delicious?"

"Very," she admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Good, haven't lost my touch yet," he proudly announced then glanced back where her ring laid and picked it up. He turned it around and stared at it a moment.

"It doesn't fit today," she whispered sadly and once again looked at her hands, "I tried it on all my fingers and it...it doesn't fit."

"Hey, that's okay," the Doctor tried to comfort but she shook her head, refusing such statement.

"It's not okay. It's our _wedding_ bands," she looked at him, "If I can't wear it it means I have no way of showing that I'm your wife, that you're _my_ husband."

"You don't need to show them, love," the Doctor chuckled.

"I do, because everyone always want you and it's not fair," she declared with a huff, "Without the wedding ring I'll just look like some mistress - and that's _if_ they're going to be polite with the wording."

"Anyone who calls you a mistress I will gladly punch," the Doctor declared seriously.

"I won't be able to hear you," Minerva repeated in a hushed tone, clearly more upset about that than anything else.

"My Kaeya, do you remember all those years when I visited you on the Monsoon?" she nodded silently, "When did we ever need telepathy to communicate?"

"Well..." Minerva looked around as she thought, realizing there hadn't been one moment they'd used their abilities together, "...never, I guess."

"We were fine without it before, so we'll be just fine with it right now," the Doctor assured her and took her hands, "Besides, just because your hands are swollen today doesn't mean they'll be swollen next week."

"This doesn't last forever?" she blinked at him, honestly surprised.

The Doctor laughed and shook his head, "Nope."

Instantly, Minerva sighed of relief and took a big sip of her milkshake, making the Doctor laugh again. She lowered her glass and shyly gripped his hand, "I'm kinda stupid with all this pregnancy stuff."

"No, you're not-"

"Yes, I am. I barely know what's going on half the time," she shook her head, " _You're_ the one that's telling me what I shouldn't do and what I can do."

"Kaeya, this is just your first pregnancy. I've...got some more experience with it," the Doctor didn't like to bring up the fact he'd already had children with another woman. He would never deny his children, ever, but he wasn't very comfortable talking about his late wife with his current wife - the actual wife he'd wanted since he could remember.

"Yeah, I know," Minerva agreed with a small nod, still unable to help so useless, "But I'm the mother. I'm supposed to know what the hell is going on with my own body. I'm supposed to know everything about my baby and the truth is...I don't. I don't have one single clue. All I know is that minty leaves make my nausea stop - that's it! Theta, I'm useless!"

"You are _not_ ," the Doctor pointed at her, almost warning her not to say that again, "All of this is perfectly normal and you'll see that when we have our second baby."

" _Second_?" Minerva blinked with wide eyes, "You're already thinking about the _second baby_? How about I pop out this one first," she pointed at her stomach and earned a chuckle from him, "and then wait a couple years to see how we did. Because I have an extreme fear of not being a good mother."

"I can assure you that you will be-"

"No, no you can't, none of us can," Minerva cut him off and sighed, "except for our baby," she set the milkshake on the nightstand and placed both her hands on her stomach, "Only he or she will be able to tell me if I was a good mom."

"Point taken," the Doctor conceded and took her hands once more, "but in the meantime, I say you're doing just fine. The only thing I can say is stop worrying so much. So your wedding ring doesn't fit, big deal. Just because it doesn't fit doesn't mean you stop being my wife. So you're feet are swollen, no problem. I can massage them!"

"You wouldn't mind?" Minerva raised her eyebrows, seriously staring at him with surprise.

"Well, never done one before, hopefully I won't be too bad," the Doctor shrugged, "You're allowed to smack me if I get it wrong, though."

And then...Minerva started sniffling, tears in her eyes freshly made.

"Why are you crying, Clever Girl?" the Doctor tried to wipe her tears before they completely took over her face.

"Cos...cos you're too good for me," Minerva tried to say through her sniffles, "Cos I know I'm getting to be one hell of an annoying pregnant woman and I'm driving you completely bananas."

"Being too harsh on yourself again," the Doctor wrapped his arms around her for a hug. He kissed her head and rested his chin over it, "I'm just doing my part in making this slightly easier for you."

"Thank you," Minerva hugged him tighter, "Thank you _so_ much. And I promise," she stopped her sniffles and looked up with a new smirk on her face, "That when I'm looking far better than right now, I will make sure to thank you _very_ kindly," she leaned up and kissed his lips.

"Now what are you talking about, Clever Girl?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, dropping his hands to her waist, "You are looking mighty attractive today, just like yesterday and the day before and then the day before that, etc."

"Oh stop it," Minerva rolled her eyes. She appreciated his effort to make her feel good, feel better about herself. But the truth was, she was eight months pregnant, nearly nine now, was the size of a boat, and had swollen hands & feet...not to mention heartburn and ongoing cravings - and the occasional vomiting experiences.

Things had changed.

"No, no, I mean it 100%," the Doctor admitted honestly, "You're as sexy as ever," he smirked, resting his forehead over hers, "Don't you ever think otherwise," before Minerva got a word out, she was attacked with a passionate kiss that was sure to leave more than enough proof of his words.

~ 0 ~

On Earth, something peculiar had occurred overnight - something that Brian Williams noticed before his son and daughter-in-law. At half past six in the morning, he was up and knocking on Amy and Rory's door. Both grumpy, Amy and Rory opened their bedroom window and peered outside.

"Dad, it's half-past 6:00 in the morning," Rory grumbled and fought the urge to snap at his father.

"What are you doing lying around?" Brian held up a black cube in his hand, "Haven't you seen them?" he turned to the street and gestured for them too look out into their neighborhood.

Black cubes were _everywhere_.

Alarmed, the two travelers dashed out of their home to inspect. They made it out to the street and looked around - much like anyone else who was outside.

"What are they?" Rory held his father's cube in his hands as he studied it.

"Nobody knows," Brian shrugged, simply awed by the occurrence, "But they're everywhere"

"Well," Amy crossed her arms, "where have they come from? Wait," she spotted something across the street - in a park. She ran for the park, leaving Rory and Brian to follow, "Doctor? Minerva?"

The Doctor had propped himself over a children's jungle gym where he was busy examining a cube with a magnifying glass. Minerva, on the other hand, had sat on a swing instead.

"Cubes on Earth?" she tilted her head and thought, "Never heard of that one before..."

"How's about an invasion of the very small cubes?" the Doctor offered, both taking a while to think on it.

"That's new too," they concluded a minute later.

~ 0 ~

Once moved to the TARDIS, the examination of the cubes continued with more force. Although, the Doctor was pretty contempt to conclude, "All absolutely identical. Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities."

"What if they're bombs?" Brian interjected, making everyone look at him, "Billions of tiny bombs. Or transport capsules, maybe, with a minirobot inside. Or deadly hard drives. Or alien eggs. Or messages needing decoding. Or they're all parts of a bigger whole. Jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together."

"I like the way you think, Brian," Minerva pointed at him, "It's so...refreshing," she motioned with her hands and chuckled to herself.

"Hey," Amy caught the empty wedding hand and took it into her own, "Where's the ring?"

And suddenly laughter was over as Minerva snatched her hand back, "It doesn't fit anymore," she muttered and walked away, back to the Ponds' house.

Startled, Amy turned to the Doctor, making a gesture to explain what she did wrong. The Doctor raised a finger for her to wait and looked at Brian, "She was right though. Watch these," he handed Brian his cube, "Yell if anything happens," he called as he headed for the doors, taking Amy along with him, "Now then, ring - don't ask for it."

"What? Why?" Amy blinked and stopped when the Doctor did.

"Because she's not happy, clearly," he picked up some equipment on the way and handed it to her and Rory after he'd caught up, "Her hands, have, well, swollen a bit."

"But that's normal," Rory shrugged, not understanding what it meant quite yet.

"Yes, completely normal," agreed the Doctor with a nod of his head, "But, for my Clever Girl, it also means that she won't be able to communicate with me telepathically."

Amy raised her eyebrows, "Like...nothing?" she sounded doubtful, "Zero?"

"When she had the meta-crisis with our friend, Donna - you remember her right?" the Doctor asked and both Ponds nodded, "Well, some of the things that Minerva lost was her telepathic abilities for communication. It's not completely gone but it's far from what it used to be," he turned and carried his share of equipment out the door with the two behind him.

"Okay, but still don't get what this has to do with swollen hands," Amy said as they stepped into their living room.

The Doctor turned around and bumped into them, "I altered her wedding ring to help enhance her abilities, help her use them."

"But since she doesn't have the ring anymore she can't use them..." Rory concluded and looked for the confirmation in his wife and the Doctor.

"Exactly," the Doctor pointed at her.

"But swollen hands doesn't last forever," Rory reminded for a cheerful aspect of the problem.

"Well, yes, but the point is it's happening and she's not one bit happy about it," the Doctor shrugged, though it did make sense in what ever way one thought about it, "So let's try not to bring that up again."

"Got it," Amy raised a hand in understanding, "Plus, there's a lot more things to go over with anyways."

"What? Like what?"

"Uh, hello," she waved her hands in front of his face, making him blink, "baby's going to be here in less than two months! What do you mean 'what'!? You've got to start prepping!"

"Right..." the Doctor tried not to seem as terrified as he actually was.

Yes, Minerva was halfway through her eighth month...but they hadn't exactly been stocking up on anything. The only thing officially done was the nursery room on the Monsoon - but that had been done centuries ago when the palace had been reconstructed. The nursery room in the TARDIS was halfway done, but it still needed to be stocked up on furniture as well.

Plus, the _name_.

They still didn't have a name for their baby. Granted it was difficult since they didn't know whether it would be a girl or a boy...but they had nothing in the end.

Basically, they were unprepared in all aspects.

~ 0 ~

Minerva was watching the Doctor set a cube into a boiling pot over the stove with the least bit of interest. She was still rather upset by the loss of her ring but she did apologize to Amy for her rude behavior. It wasn't Amy's fault she was pregnant and moody and swollen.

"Right. I'm due at work," announced Rory as he backtracked out of the kitchen.

"What?" the Doctor stopped him, "You've got a job?"

"Yeah," Rory nodded slowly, "of course I've got a job. What do you think we do when we're not with you?"

"I imagine mostly kissing."

Rory shrugged in acceptance and made Amy sigh, "I write travel articles for magazines and Rory heals the sick."

"Super Ponds," Minerva chuckled.

"My shift starts in an hour," Rory looked at Amy, "You don't know where my scrubs are?"

"In the lounge," she pointed, "where you left them."

"Look at you being all domestic. The journalist and the nurse, long way from Leadworth," Minerva remarked with genuine surprise. She was no stranger to it herself but out of everyone she'd met in her life she hadn't quite seen the Ponds at it. Whenever she saw them it was all about the running and escaping and whatnot.

Amy smiled sheepishly and put down some of the equipment she'd been holding, "We think it's been 10 years. Not for you or Earth, but for us. 10 years older, 10 years of you. On and off."

"Look at you know, all grown up," the Doctor gestured to the not-so 7 year old little girl.

They heard the front door bursting open followed the by hasty stomps of boots, "Block the rear entrances," a man ordered.

"Clear!" another went.

"Cut the power line."

Finally, a group of soldiers entered the kitchen with guns aimed at the trio, "Trap one, kitchen secured."

They turned back to see the backdoor being covered by soldiers as well.

"Trap three. Back garden secured."

And then they turned back to the kitchen to see Rory being forced inside with no trousers on, "There are soldiers all over my house and I'm in my pants."

Amy raised her eyebrows, "My whole life, I've dreamed of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else."

A blonde woman made her way through the soldiers towards the kitchen, calm as ever, "All these muscles, and they still don't know how to knock," she flashed a smile to the group, "Sorry about the raucous entrance. Spike in artron energy reading at this address. In the light of the last 24 hours, we had to check it out and, uh, the dogs do love a runout. Hello. Kate Stewart, head of scientific research at UNIT," she looked directly at the Doctor while pulling out a scanner, "And, with dress sense like that..." she held it to the Doctor and got a view of his two beating hearts, You must be the Doctor. I hoped it'd be you."

"Oh goodie, UNIT," Minerva spoke up and flashed a fake smile.

"Not a fan?" Kate looked at her, bemused by the expressions on the ginger's face.

"Well, this is the institution that wanted to prod and poke me with a stick like I was some lab experiment," Minerva took a mock pause and sighed for effect, her hand rubbing her stomach while she thought, "Nope, can't find it in myself to be happy about their presence."

"You're case unidentified case 407," she recalled such closed case and smiled.

"Oh, even better," Minerva flapped a hand at the woman, her fake smile vanishing, "I even have a pet name!"

"Am I missing something?" Amy made a face and looked at the alien pair in confusion.

"Long story short when I was a human UNIT wanted to find me because I was an unidentified alien," Minerva shrugged.

"Which was closed in 2009," reminded Kate who walked further into the kitchen.

"Sorry," Minerva said while looking at the Doctor, sensing his comical amusement of her, "I'm pregnant and moody, paranoia is bound to happen somewhere in there."

"Congratulations by the way," Kate was polite to say, taking in the ginger's attitude with amusement much like anyone else in the room, "Due date?"

"Less than 2 months," the Doctor wrapped an arm around his very paranoid wife, "And I can't say I care for the way you entered this house. She's moody enough."

"Hey," Minerva elbowed him in the ribs, "Only _I_ can say that," she pointed at him then looked at Kate, "Since when does UNIT run with military force?"

"Since me. UNIT's been adapting. Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which made it sound like more fun than it actually was."

"Well then we can assume that you know something about these cubes?"

Kate swayed her head and delayed the answer for a minute, "Not as much as we'd hoped. I've been freighting them in from around the world for testing. So far, we've subjected them to temperatures of +/-200° Celsius, simulated a water depth of 5 miles, dropped one out of a helicopter at 10,000 feet and rolled our best tank over it. Always intact."

"That's impressive," the Doctor frowned, "I don't want them to be impressive. I want them vulnerable, with a nice Achilles's heel."

"We don't know how they got here, what they're made of, or why they're here."

"And yet all around the world people are already taking them into their homes," Minerva sighed, "Well, except my family - I've phoned them not to dare bring them in."

"Good call," commented Kate and sighed, "People are taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within 3 hours, the cubes had 1,000 separate Twitter accounts."

"Eugh," the Doctor groaned, " _Twitter_!"

"I've recommended we treat this as a hostile incursion," Kate explained, "Gather them all up and lock them in a secure facility, but that would take massive international agreement and cooperation."

"And you don't have that because there is no such evidence it's needed," Minerva assumed and crossed her arms, "Meaning we've better get some."

"The cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose," the Doctor reviewed what they knew so far, "So what does that tell us?"

Amy made a thinking face, "Maybe they wanted to be seen, noticed."

"More than that," Minerva helped, "They _want_ to be observed. So we observe them. Stay with them, round the clock. Watch the cubes. Day and night. And that's good news for me because nowadays I can't really say I enjoy walking around nor running..." she said midway towards the living room.

"We hadn't noticed," the Doctor chuckled lightly.

Her response to that was a cube thrown at his chest.

"When did you say the due date was?" Amy whispered.

"I've gotta get an exact date," the Doctor hung his head and let them laugh at him.

~ 0 ~

Minerva's plan was good, sensible, easy...and completely boring. The group had joined Minerva on the living room couch to watch the cubes on the table in front of them. The Doctor was lying upside down with his head hanging down, "Four days...Nothing!" he snatched a cube from the table and turned it over, "Nothing! Not a single change in any cube, anywhere in the world," he set the cube back in its place and sat upside on the couch, "Four days! And I'm still in your lounge!" he looked at Amy and Rory.

"It was _her_ plan," Amy pointed at Minerva on his other side.

Minerva raised her hands in an uncaring motion, "It's a good plan, I just never said it was an exciting plan."

"It's a patient plan," the Doctor rubbed his face in frustration, "And you know I hate being patient! Patience is for wimps!"

"Think it's the other way around, dear," she mumbled and earned a hard look from him. She sighed and motioned for him to get up, "Go do something if it'll make you feel better. We'll watch the cubes."

"That's why I married you!" he grabbed her face and planted a kiss on her lips before jumping up and rushing off to do some tasks around the house.

Minerva sighed and got comfortable on the couch, "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the man I married," Amy snickered while Rory shook his head in equal amusement.

By the time Doctor returned to the group the leftover trio had rearranged their seating arrangement to Amy sitting in between Minerva and Rory. Amy held a notepad in her hands with a pen and had both Minerva and Rory peering over her shoulders.

"No, see, I don't think that one's good," Rory was pointing at something on the paper.

"Why not?" Amy frowned and looked at him, "It's a good one."

"Michael? No thank you."

"What's going on?" the Doctor sat on the armrest by Amy.

"Oh, back in the game?" Minerva looked up from the notepad to her husband.

"Yes," he beamed and fixed his jacket, "Nothing like a bit of activity to pass the time. How long was I gone?"

"One hour," she informed and laughed at his face, "Oh shush, come and look at this instead." The Doctor took a seat beside Minerva. "Look," she scooted grabbed the notepad from Amy, "Isn't it amazing? Amy and Rory made a list of names for us!"

The Doctor took the notepad to study the boys and girls names his companions had come up with, "When did you guys do this?" he curiously asked.

"In our free time," Amy shrugged, "We've circled ones we think you could like but it's all open."

"And please side with me and say the name 'Michael' is not a good one," Rory added while giving Amy a hard look for the option.

"I think...blimey, I don't know what to think," the Doctor admitted and made Minerva chuckle as she took the notepad back from him.

"I agree," she sighed, "There's just so many I don't know what to choose. The list we made is just as big as this one and we couldn't decide on anything either."

"Well I really like the name Michael," Amy said.

"I think something more common, normal," Rory shrugged, "Like Tristan, remember? You said you liked that one. Riley?"

"What about you, Rory?" the Doctor thought to ask.

"Well," Rory thought about it for a moment, "For a girl, maybe Amaya? Amaya's nice."

Minerva shared a glance with the Doctor, both agreeing it wasn't a bad name. Minerva marked a little dash on the name Amaya in the list, "That's one," she mumbled, "And I don't know but I like Chantal?"

"Always girl names, hm?" the Doctor teased her preference, "And a boy? What about boy names?"

Minerva raised her eyebrows and gazed at the list again, "Um...don't know..." she tilted her head and studied the list, so unsure of it all it made her feel sick, "...okay, I think I need some minty leaves..."

And then she recalled she had finished up her stock one day ago.

"Uh oh," Minerva made a face, "Martian-"

"To the Monsoon we go," he declared and took the notepad from her to place on the table.

Minerva moved to stand up but came to the conclusion, after three futile attempts, that she couldn't get up on her own, "Um..." she remained still, "...I think I have reached the point where I can no longer stand on my own..." she looked around and tried not to show her clear disappointment.

"It's alright," the Doctor reached for her hands and gently pulled her up - with the help of Amy who was closest to them.

"No, it's not," Minerva sighed, "I can't even get up from a freaking couch? Are you kidding me!?" she scoffed and hastily made her way to the TARDIS.

"Get the due date, get the due date," Amy coughed 'discreetly' and went to follow Minerva.

"Wish I could say mood swings stop like swollen hands, but..." Rory patted the Doctor on the arm, "...yeah..."

Minerva would've stayed more upset if she hadn't ran into Brian inside the console room, "Brian, what are you doing here?" she blinked.

"The Doctor told me to watch the cubes," he shrugged.

"You are too good of a man, Brian," Minerva chuckled, "That was four days ago!"

"Oh!" the man stood up, "Doesn't time fly when you're alone with your thoughts."

"Clever Girl," the Doctor entered the TARDIS and made the ginger turn around, "Let's get you to the Monsoon, yeah? Some relaxing time and a restock on mint leaves."

Minerva crossed her arms, "Well, I guess, but you'll have to stick by me 24/7 because I probably won't be able to stand up from anywhere."

"You're going to be okay," he lightly chuckled and pecked her lips, "That's what I'm here for. Hey," he looked back at the others, "why don't you two come along?"

"They can't just go off like that," Brian frowned.

"Can't they?" the Doctor repeated, slightly confused, "Can't you?" he asked the Ponds, "That's how it goes, isn't it?"

"I've got my job," Rory raised a hand as he reminded.

"Oh, yes, Rory, the universe is awaiting, but you have a little job to go to."

"It's not little," Rory frowned, taking offense to something the Doctor had said without thinking and certainly without bad meaning, "It's important to me."

"It's alright, Rory," Minerva assured and leaned on the Doctor, "We'll go on our own - and hey, I'll even bring back the list of names the Doctor and I made."

"I'll have the TARDIS set to every Earth newsfeed," the Doctor announced as the Ponds and Brian began to leave.

Minerva moved up to the console and set them to de-materialize, "It's okay, Martian," she flicked a couple switches and turned to him with a smile, "You still have a very pregnant and moody wife with you," she gestured to herself.

The Doctor knew she was being sarcastic and chuckled, "You're my lovely, sassy, clever wife," he corrected but earned a scoff in response, "I mean it," he lifted her chin with a finger and placed a kiss on her lips.

"You've got a wife with swollen hands," she wiggled her fingers for show, "One who needs freaking _leaves_ so she doesn't vomit and one who can't even stand on her own anymore," she sighed and shut her eyes, her voice falling to a whisper, "How the hell can you stand me?"

"You're talking about this like it's some job I have to do. I love you, Kaeya," the Doctor set his hands on either side of her head, "and none of those things make me love you less," he proceeded to pepper-kiss her entire face until he got her to smile - even a small laugh broke out!

Minerva opened her eyes and smiled brightly, "Take me away, Martian," she pleaded and rested a hand on his cheek, "Forget the Monsoon, just take me out. I really need it."

"What my Clever Girl wants she gets," the Doctor declared his famous saying and kissed her again before following through.

~ 0 ~

It was 9 months before Minerva and the Doctor would make an appearance on Earth. Of course, the 9 months was for Amy and Rory...for the pair it had been merely a week.

"You've got flowers?" Minerva called as she headed for the doors of the TARDIS.

"Got 'em!" the Doctor exclaimed as he followed his wife out the blue box holding a massive bouquet of flowers in front of him.

"Then out we go, it's their anniversary, after all," Minerva beamed and shut the doors after them. They'd left the TARDIS upstairs in the Pond's home and were planning on leaving very soon so no one would notice it.

Once they were nearing the back yard they started hearing Amy's voice carrying through, apparently she was leaving them some message over the phone, "...he's here tonight. Being as it's our wedding anniversary, we thought you might've dropped by. I left you messages."

"We know!" Minerva exclaimed behind the ginger with excitement, "Happy anniversary!"

Amy turned around in time to be handed the flowers, "Come with us," the Doctor motioned to be followed with Minerva, "And bring your husband!"

Confused, yet curious, Amy looked at Rory by the grill and hurried after the alien pair.

~ 0 ~

The Ponds were brought to a lovely hotel room in the 19th century, both dressed in period clothing. The Doctor was motioning around the room while babbling on the explanation and background of the place, "26th of June 1819. The recently opened Savoy Hotel. Dinner, bed, and breakfast for two. Bonjour, bonjour, merci, Auguste. You'll be back before the party's over. They won't even notice you went. No complications, I promise."

Rory grabbed the Doctor and placed a kiss on his cheek, leaving an amused Doctor, "Ooh!"

"You'll love it!" laughed Minerva as she took the Doctor towards the TARDIS to let the Ponds enjoy their anniversary.

And then the night passed...

The group of travelers sat along the edge of a road, Amy and Rory's clothing in a disheveled manner. The Doctor let out a big breath, "Bit of a shock, Zygon ship under the Savoy, half the staff imposters. Still! It's all fixed now, eh?"

He received hard looks from the Ponds.

And so came the next attempt of an anniversary present.

Bit of a shock...it didn't go so well either.

The travelers burst into a royal room and the Doctor went for a leap on the bed. Crossed, Amy shut the doors behind them, "I thought we were going home!"

"You can't miss a good wedding, Amy," Minerva tried to be cheerful about it...until the Doctor said his next words.

"Under the bed. Under the bed!" he hopped off and started crawling under the bed.

"Oh no, no, no, no!" Minerva shook her head and flapped her hands about to show her utter refusal, "No! I cannot and will not doing that!"

"Minerva!" she heard the Doctor's call from underneath the bed, now joined by Amy and Rory.

"No!" she snapped and put her hands on her hips as she went for the side of it, "I'll face them myself!"

"It's the KING OF ENGLAND!"

"And I'm bloody Queen of a planet," she scoffed loudly and turned to face the door, "We'll see who wins this argument."

"This is your fault," the Doctor hissed to Amy.

"What? Somebody was talking and I just said "yes."

"To _wedding vows_ ," Rory corrected, "You just married Henry VIII on our anniversary."

"And now my wife's about to face them!" the Doctor groaned and started wiggling himself out from under the bed.

Minerva stood straight and tall as King Henry VIII entered the room with a sword in hand, "Henry, _sit down_ ," she began with loud yell that did manage to freeze the King and even his soldiers, "I am pregnant, I am moody and I am one Queen you do _not_ want to mess with," she warned.

The King looked at his soldiers genuinely in question. The Doctor, standing from the other side of the bed, made a cutting motion on his neck - the poor human King was in for it.

~ 0 ~

The ending of the anniversary gift attempts would see the return of the Ponds back in their home to finish celebrating their anniversary party with a toast. Minerva and the Doctor watched it all happen from the threshold of the kitchen with smiles.

Brian came towards them looking troubled, "How long were they away?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Brian," Minerva looked around innocently.

"Because they're wearing totally different clothes from earlier."

"Oh..." yes, Minerva now accepted her attention span had reached a zero.

"Seven weeks," the Doctor answered the question, "We got a bit sidetracked...a lot."

Brian sighed as he asked his next question, "What happened to the other people who traveled with you?"

Minerva looked up at the Doctor with uneasiness, knowing the previous companions were a delicate topic for him, "Look Brian, what happens in the end is just...what always happens," she lightly shrugged, "Before them was my friend Donna, and she left because she wanted a life on Earth. Before her was Martha, and she left because she wanted her life. Before her was...Rose, and, um, she stayed back because...she realized her place wasn't here anymore. And before her...so many people, but in the end they all leave for some reason. And yes, we're not going to lie, some do get left behind but _never_ because we choose to, it's because it's what happens. And a few..." she reached for the Doctor's hand, knowing that was the worst truth of it all, "Rare, but...some died."

"Not them," the Doctor spoke up with determination as he looked at Amy and Rory, "Not them, Brian. Never them."

~ 0 ~

After the party was over, the travelers remained to help with the clean up. While Minerva did the light work like clearing a table, the Doctor came over to her with a hesitant look on his face.

"What's the matter?" she grew concerned the moment she saw him.

"Do you think...do you think we could stay here for a while?" he asked in a low whisper that Minerva nearly missed what he'd said.

"You want to stay? Like, actually live through regular time...inside a house? With _doors_?" she pointed a finger to the backdoor.

The Doctor nodded, "Yeah, I mean, we still have to ask but...I need to know if you're okay with it."

"Me?" she pointed at herself and chuckled, "Of course! But...can I ask why?"

"I know the Ponds are trying to wean us off a bit...and I understand they want a human life too, I just miss them..."

Minerva had to chuckle at how nervous he seemed while explaining. "Well don't let me stop you. I think it's good for us to take a stop. I'm not, uh-" she rubbed her stomach, "-exactly in the condition to be running a lot, so count me in."

"Really?"

"Mhm! Let's go ask them right now, then," she dropped the rag she held and took his hand, giving him a peck on the lips, "Come along, Martian, we might be getting a third home!" she chuckled and led him off.

~ 0 ~

And so passed the days the Ponds remained living at home, with the Doctor and Minerva. They sat on the couch watching television like normal people did on Earth. The Doctor had prepared his famous fish fingers and custard for himself and anyone else who wanted - save for Minerva, she still detested the combination.

"If I had a restaurant, this would be all I'd serve," the Doctor declared with a mouthful of food.

"That's because it's the only thing you can do without burning down a building," Minerva remarked and laughed to herself.

"Let me remind you I've ran restaurants before!"

"No way," it was Amy who shot him down that time, earning a hard look.

"Who do you think invented the Yorkshire pudding?"

Rory chuckled, "You didn't."

"Pudding, yet savory. Sound familiar?"

Minerva sighed as he continued to eat.

~ 0 ~

The next day would find another calm day for everyone (or so they thought). Minerva sat alone in the living room with a Wii control tennis racket in her hand. The game was paused as the Doctor had gone out to the kitchen on a request from Minerva - again. There were three empty glasses set on the side table by the side of the couch, all having contained milkshakes she had asked for one hour ago.

"Here we go!" the Doctor ran into the living room holding a fork and glass with mangoes and powder chili over it, "Racket! Racket Racket!" he wiggled his fingers for the racket Minerva held.

Minerva could have cared less for the racket as she let it drop to get her glass, "Mmm," she savored the taste already.

"Why's it in a glass again?" he made a face as she stuck her fork into one of the pieces of fruit, "Rory asked, not me," he quickly added afterwards, making her roll her eyes.

"Because my grandmother used to put it in a glass when I was younger," Minerva shrugged, "It's just a Souza tradition - mm, and a good one!" she chewed her fruit with delight.

Seeing she was satisfied for the moment, the Doctor returned to his tennis match on the television. He soon got into it and was jumping and babbling all about, occasionally getting a word from Minerva about his childish behavior over a video game.

"Oh!" he put his hands in the air after winning, "That's second set: Doctor! Ha ha! Oh, if Fred Perry could see me now, eh? He'd probably ask for his shorts back."

"You're so stupid," Minerva laughed then put a hand on her stomach, "And I'm pretty sure your unborn child agrees with me."

"Perhaps," he pointed at her then quickly dropped his head to her stomach to feel a kick from the baby, "or perhaps he's warning me he's going to beat me at a round later!"

Minerva couldn't help laugh at that, "Yeah, that's it!"

The Doctor gave her a kiss before returning to his game, continuing practicing for his child could later beat him and he wanted to put up a good competition. He was so focused on the game he didn't realize a cube hovered in front of him for a moment, "Third set, decider. Come on, then. Out of the way, dear, I'm trying to-" he blinked and straightened up, "Whatever you are, this planet, these people, are precious to me. And I will defend them to my last breath. Is that all you can do, hover? I had a metal dog could do that," the cube opened up to reveal a gun, "Ooh! Ooh, that's clever. What's that?" but it fired and made him duck, "Whew!"

"Ah!" Minerva cried as her cup of fruit fell on the cushion beside her, "Hey!" she frowned at the cube, "That was _my_ fruit!"

"And we're off!" the Doctor declared and yanked her off the couch to run out of the room.

"What's going on?" Minerva caught her breath and leaned on the wall while he peered back into the room.

"They've woken up, my guess," he gathered from the cube downloading information from the television.

Rory dashed to them from the kitchen, wearing the same confused yet awed face the two aliens had, "Minerva, Doctor! Hi. The cube in there, it just opened?"

"Hey!" Amy called as she ran down the stairs, "The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!"

The Doctor laughed, excited for some reason, "Really?! Ours fired laser bolts and, now, it's surfing the net!"

"Not really a reason to be happy about dear," Minerva reached for his arm, "We've gone over this, remember?"

Brian came in from the front door and hurriedly went to the group, "You're never going to believe this. My cube just moved. It rattled," and the Doctor laughed again, giving Minerva a kiss on the head and re-entering the living room.

"Are you kidding me?" she called but didn't follow.

The home phone rang which prompted for Rory to go answer it meanwhile the rest figured out what was going on.

Minerva leaned off the wall and straightened herself up, "Well then, I guess we're in business now," she put on a fake smile for the humans, "Anyone want to take a crack at what's happening?" no answers came from either Amy or Brian, "Yeah..." Minerva sighed, "...me neither."

"I have to get to work," announced Rory as he returned from the call, "They need all the help they can get."

"Let me come help out," Brian volunteered.

"Take your dad to work night, brilliant!" Rory shrugged and looked at Amy next, "Okay, are you going to be all right here?"

She gave him a kiss and warned, "Keep away from the cubes."

"All right," Rory motioned for Brian to follow out the house.

"And why are you grinning?" Minerva sighed when the Doctor returned with a toothy grin on his face.

The Doctor showed them the psychic paper, "We're wanted at the Tower of London."

~ 0 ~

At the Tower of London, Kate Stewart was bringing the trio down a hallway while she explained the situation, "Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment."

"Now we're in business," the Doctor rubbed his hands together, "You sent me a message to my psychic paper. You know, I'm almost impressed."

"Don't be rude," Minerva elbowed him and flashed an apologetic smile at Kate.

Amy walked behind them looking slightly nervous of their whereabouts, "Secret base beneath the Tower? I hope we're not here because we know too much."

"Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading," Kate quipped, "Also, ravens of death," she added before leaving.

"I like her," Amy concluded.

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed.

Kate brought them into a lab room where many cubes were trapped in sealed rooms to be monitored, "There are 50 being monitored and more coming in all the time. I don't know how useful it is. Every cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity, some create mood swings."

"What's this one?" Minerva had stopped in front of a cube that seemed still.

"Try the door," Kate gestured.

Minerva shrugged and opened it, only to let the Chicken Dance be heard all around the room, "Gotcha," she blinked, expecting anything else but that.

"On a loop!" Kate called and Minerva quickly shut the door.

"This stays closed at all times," Minerva pointed and hurriedly left.

Kate then led them out the room to be brought into the computer room where several scientists were working on different screens. "This is the latest," Kate said upon entering.

The Doctor headed up to a computer and typed on its keyboard, "Oh, dear. Systems breach at the Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East."

"I've got governments screaming for explanations and no idea what to tell them. I'm lost, Doctor," Kate stressed, "We all are."

The Doctor looked back at her with a smile, "Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did," Kate blinked and stared, "Kate Stewart. Heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop "Lethbridge"?"

"I didn't want any favors," she shrugged, "Though he guided me, even to the end. "Science leads," he always told me, said he'd learnt that from an old friend."

"We don't let him down. We don't let this planet down."

As an alert beeped, the nearby technician called to the others, "They've stopped. The cubes. Across the world. They just shut down."

Kate was stumped, "Active for 47 minutes and then they just die?"

"Perhaps dormant," offered Minerva, "They wouldn't just die with nothing gained."

"Then why shut down?" Amy asked, equally confused as them.

"I don't know. I don't know. I need to think," the Doctor declared and turned to leave, frustrated with it all, "I need some air. Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation!"

Minerva raised a hand to Kate, "I'll take care of it," she assured and went after the Doctor, "Amy! I'm going to need your help up the stairs..."

Amy chuckled and followed, "That's what I'm here for."

~ 0 ~

Up above ground, on a wall overlooking the Thames, sat the trio of travelers. The Doctor was pretty glum about the situation, not to mention guilty, "The moment they arrived, I should've made sure they were collected and burned. That is what I should've done."

"I don't think you could've if you wanted to, dear," Minerva shook her head, "We needed evidence and we didn't have any."

"Absolutely nobody would've listened," Amy agreed with Minerva.

The Doctor considered the perspective but was looking at Amy sadly, taking him away from the current problem, "You're thinking of stopping, aren't you? You and Rory."

It was easy to see Amy was startled with the change of subject as she stuttered, "N-no, no, I mean...we haven't made a decision."

"But you're considering it," Minerva said quietly, a sad smile wearing down on her face.

"Maybe. I don't know. We don't know," Amy shrugged, unable to find the right words to describe the situation, "Well, our lives have changed so much. There was a time - there were years - when I couldn't live without you two. Um, when just the whole everyday thing would drive me crazy. But since you dropped us back here, since you gave us this house, you know, we've built a life. But I don't know if I can have both."

"Why?" the Doctor curiously asked.

"Because they pull at each other. Because they pull at me and because the traveling is starting to feel like running away."

"That's not what it is."

"Oh, come on, look at you. Four days in a lounge and you go crazy."

"But that's not what it is," insisted Minerva, "When we were younger traveling is all we thought of. This spot right here is merely one corner of one country, in one continent on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy, that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond and there is so much, so much, to see - and we _want_ to see it all," she reached for the Doctor's hand, gripping it tightly, "All of us together."

The Doctor sighed lightly, "Amy, we're not running away from things. We are running to them, before they flare and fade forever. It's all right. Our lives won't run the same. They can't. One day, soon, maybe, you'll stop. We've known for a while."

"Well, it's not like we want complete out of your lives," Amy tried to intervene politely, "We want to see our God child grow up, remember?" she offered a sad smile up, "We want to be part of your lives, just..."

"Without the constant traveling," Minerva guessed. Amy gave a sheepish nod and looked to the side, feeling incredibly guilty for hurting her two friends like this, "It's alright, Amy," Minerva said quietly, "You've got lives to make on this beautiful planet. Don't worry, you always get what you want from us so start making your little schedules for us to follow and come by for visits."

While Amy laughed the Doctor became pensive over his wife's words, "They got what they wanted..." he whispered, attracting both ginger's gazes.

"Who did?" Amy asked, glancing at Minerva to see if she was confused as well.

"The cubes!" he jumped to his feet and turned to them with wide eyes, "That's why they stopped. Come on."

Minerva groaned and held her hands up, "Help, please?" she asked shyly. She severely hated not being able to get up on her own anymore.

~ 0 ~

As it turned out, the Doctor was right about the cubes getting what they wanted. Each cube had taken a different observation of the human life aspect. All the cubes now decided to have a number on its side: a countdown. A countdown that would probably lead to some catastrophic event for the planet. Kate was promptly ordered to spread the word out that all the cubes had to be disposed of before the countdown reached zero. And then came the Doctor's last idea...one that Minerva was no where near happy about.

"I swear to God, get out of there!" Minerva repeatedly pounded on the glass of the chamber in which the Doctor had locked himself in with a cube that now had a '2' marked on its side. He apparently wanted to experience what the effect the cube would set loose upon reaching zero. But Minerva wouldn't have it...so the Doctor sneaked inside the chamber when she wasn't looking.

"Minerva, calm down," Amy was beside her with Kate on the other side, all three of them watching the Doctor wait for the cube inside the chamber.

"I can't calm down!" Minerva snapped, "How do you want me to calm down when my idiot of a husband locked himself with a killer cube!" she gestured to said husband and cube.

"But it's not good for the baby," Amy tried to remind without further provoking Minerva. Nowadays Minerva was more irritable and with almost anything.

"Oh, sorry, but having the father purposely stick himself inside a room with a killer cube is much better," Minerva crossed her arms with a loud huff, "If he dies, I'll kill him - and then I'll kill him again."

The cube changed to '0'.

Inside the chamber, the Doctor watched the cube slid its lid open, "Geronimo," he muttered.

"What's happening?" Kate asked and leaned forwards on the glass.

The Doctor did the same on the table to see inside the cube, but it was empty. Amy tried peering through the glass with her nose nearly pressed up against it, "Well, what's in there?"

"There is nothing in here," he finally answered, sounding disappointed.

"Then get out of there!" Minerva slammed a hand on the glass. The Doctor obeyed and stood up from his chair, exiting the chamber all the meanwhile staring at the cube in case it did anything behind his back. Minerva rushed up to him as fast as she could, "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" she mumbled incessantly as she hugged him tightly.

The Doctor felt incredibly guilty for pushing her emotions when he knew it was dangerous, "I'm really sorry, love, but it was necessary."

"Screw you," she pushed him away from her, glaring him down, "It was not. Kate told you it wasn't. I told you it wasn't. The entire bloody team told you it wasn't. If this baby," she pointed to her stomach, "would've been born right now it would have been _your_ fault."

"Minerva," the Doctor sighed. She was more angry than necessary but he couldn't blame her; her emotions were radical by this point and he seemed to always push them.

"No, screw you," she declared once more and walked off, "Kate!" she yelled and immediately the blonde woman ran after her.

They returned to the technician room where all monitors were set to view the streets. Minerva was studying them along with Kate when the Doctor and Amy caught up.

"They're all acting the same," Minerva spoke coldly when the Doctor stopped beside them, "The cubes are doing nothing."

"They're empty so we're safe, right?" Kate looked at the pair for a comforting answer.

"No, Kate," Minerva sighed, rubbing her forehead and trying not to snap at the innocent blonde, "We are actually very _far_ from being safe. The cubes have all acted in a deliberate manner so all this is also part of their plan."

"Minerva, Doctor, look," Amy pointed at the screens, apparently seeing that something was wrong. All the monitors showed people seemingly having problems with their chests then falling to the ground.

"They're CCTV feeds from across the world, showing the same," the tech near them explained as more monitors turned on to show the same events.

"People are dying," Kate scowled.

"But _why_?" Minerva asked the important question, "And how? Tech," she pointed at the man, "We need information on how the people are being affected."

The Doctor started to pace while thinking outloud, "The cubes brought people close together. They opened and -" he yelped in sheer pain from his chest.

"What's the matter?" Amy asked as he fell onto a chair behind him.

He held his chest and struggled not to yell, "Uh! Ah! I don't know!"

"Posters are logging a global surge in heart failure, cardiac arrest," the tech gave answer to Minerva's order.

"That's it!" the Doctor pointed at him, "Ah! Ah! Oh! Only one heart. Other one's not working," he pounded on said side of the not-working-heart.

"This is what I meant about completely unnecessary," Minerva crossed her arms, "If you hadn't gone into that chamber none of this would be happening. Once again, I am right."

"Okay, maybe we should forget about who's right and wrong and get him to a hospital," Amy gestured to the Time Lord in distress.

"No, Amy, never ignore the fact you are right," Minerva shook her head, "always acknowledge it."

"You're a real jerk right now," Amy accused and yet didn't sound rude at all.

Minerva shrugged with acceptance, "When you carried a baby you were outcold - never feeling anything save the contractions. That has not been my case," it was Amy's turn to accept that fact.

While the two women had talked, the Doctor had slipped back to the monitors. He intended to figure out how the cubes had managed such a powerful move against the humans. It was the light power. They had cut it and used it. Not too later, they had discovered where the closest power station was to them and discovered it was Rory's work; the hospital.

With Kate's aid, they drove to the hospital to hopefully find Rory and Brian before something happened to them. Kate was sent back to the tower to stop more attacks from occurring. Getting somewhere within the hospital was hard enough with all the chaos between incoming patients and the employees but the most difficult thing was the Doctor's incapability of taking two steps before shouting in pain and stopping there and then.

Minerva was still fairly upset with him for his earlier action in the chamber but it was difficult to remain indifferent to his pain, "Remind me again how long you can last with one heart?" she scratched her head.

"Not much longer," the Doctor managed to answer while trying to locate the wormhole portal with his sonic, "But I need to locate the wormhole portal. Hello. Hello!" he turned to a small girl standing on the side next to the wall, holding a cube in her hands, "Oh. Hello. You are giving off some very strange signals," the girl's response was changing her face and eyes to a glowing blue.

"Oh my God," Amy held onto Minerva's arm.

"Outlier droid monitoring everything. If I shut her down, I can..." the Doctor lifted the sonic to the girl's neck, "Ah. It's all right. It's all right," with the girl swaying as if weak, the tried to balance her but his own pain took him over, "Minerva, I can't, Minerva!" and he slid to the floor, "I can't do it. I need both hearts. Ah! Aah!"

Minerva tried bending down to aid him but she found it completely impossible, "Ooh, I can't either!"

Meanwhile, Amy had found defibrillator across the hall and nabbed it to use on the Doctor, "All right, desperate measures."

"What? No!" the Doctor saw her intentions and outright refused it, "No! No no no no. That won't work. I'm a Time Lord! Minerva tell her!"

Amy stopped in front of him and Minerva and looked at the ginger woman, "Your call but I do remind you that you can't bend down and we have an alien invasion to stop."

Minerva's eyes flickered to hers and the Doctor, "Do it fast."

"What!? No!" the Doctor shouted while Amy got on her knees and did her job, "No, Amy!" he cried as she opened his shirt.

"Alright, clear!" she applied the charge to his chest and got him back.

Like a reflex he jerked upright, "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" he jumped to his feel, suddenly full of energy, "Welcome back, Lefty. Whoa-hoa! Two hearts. Whoo! Back in the game," Minerva was surprised with the abrupt kiss she received on her lips, "Never agree to that again!"

Minerva lifted an eyebrow, "I'll stop when you stop putting yourself in unnecessary situations."

The Doctor opened his mouth then took the easy way out and turned away, "C'mon!" he pointed and walked off. Minerva rolled her eyes and and followed after him with Amy beside her.

Finding the portal with the Doctor back to normal turned out to be not that difficult. It was located inside the lift and unsurprisingly led into some sort of spacecraft room. The room was filled with several gurneys and two Williams lying unconsciously at the end of the row.

"Rory!" Amy ran towards her husband.

The Doctor called for her and tossed a small jar to her he'd fished from his pocket. At the confused face he elaborated, "Seborean smelling salts. Outlawed in seven galaxies."

Amy shrugged and used the jar to wake Rory up, getting effective results within a second.

"Welcome back Rory," Minerva chuckled at the comical expressions Rory had on his face.

"Get them out of here," the Doctor ordered Rory and Amy, "You too. Now. Minerva-"

"Nope," she covered his mouth and stared at Amy, "Use the salt on Brian and do what the Doctor told you."

Amy used the salts on Brian and Rory started getting off the gurney, "But what about you and the Doctor? What are you going to do?"

"Absolutely no idea," the Doctor managed to push Minerva's hand down, "Now get him through the portal," he helped push Brian's gurney towards the lift while urging Minerva to take leave as well. However, they were stopped upon being fired by a mysterious man in a black cloak. He was rather tall with cracked and wrinkled skin - and bald.

"So many of them, crawling the planet, seeping into every corner," the man said, his voice sounding like a projection. Amy and Rory kept going with Brian who was more than alert and stunned at his environment. The man disappeared and reappeared in front of a computer screen.

"Should've left," the Doctor mumbled to Minerva as he took her hand and gripped it tightly before moving to the other side of the screen.

"Haven't done that since you regenerated," Minerva whispered back, "never happening again so dream on."

The Doctor sighed and studied the man before them, "But I preferred you not to be in front of this..." he trailed off, swallowing hard, "The Shakri."

Minerva raised her eyebrows at that, "But you said they were a myth."

"A myth to keep the young of Gallifrey in their place," the Doctor agreed with her words, "but apparently not..."

"The Shakri exist in all of time and none. We travel alone and together," the Shakri elaborated, "The Seven."

"The Shakri craft, connected to Earth through 7 portals in 7 minutes," the Doctor finally understood that importance of the number '7', "Ah, but why?"

"Serving the word of the Tally."

"But why use cubes?" Minerva asked curiously, "And more importantly, why choose Earth?"

"Not Earth - Humanity," the Shakri corrected her, "The Shakri will halt the human plague before the spread."

"Erase humanity before it colonizes space," the Doctor said, slowly bringing himself and Minerva to the same side of the screen where the Shakri stood, "We thought the cubes were an invasion, the start of war."

"The human contagion only! Must be eliminated."

"Excuse you," Minerva scowled, "They are not contagion and if you call them that you're going to feel the wrath of an angry pregnant woman. I don't care if you're some myth my husband was afraid of as a kid you do not scare me, buddy. I'll eliminate you."

The Doctor used his grip on her hand to pull her back from the steps she'd taken towards the Shakri. At that moment, Amy and Rory came running back, pretty much hearing everything said, "And we'll help eliminate you," Amy declared.

"Oi! Didn't I tell you two to go?" the Doctor looked between the couple.

"You should've learnt, by now," Rory answered as if it were obvious.

"Yeah, and what is this "Tally," anyway?" Amy stared at the Shakri, expecting to be answered fast.

"You'd recognize it as Judgement day," Minerva shrugged, "or the Reckoning."

"What? Don't either of you know?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look me, to me this was all just a myth and the Doctor never wanted to find out!"

"Before the Closure, there is the Tally. The Shakri serves the Tally!"

"The pest controllers of the universe," the Doctor relayed, "That's how the tales went, isn't it?"

"Wow, that's a seriously weird bedtime story," Amy stared at the couple in front of them with scowl, "Can you not tell my godchild one of those?"

"Oh so you'd prefer we tell him about the wolf in your grandmother's nightdress?" the Doctor countered, making Amy think about her previous statement, "So! Here you are," he gestured to the Shakri, continuing where they left off, "depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans will collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside. Because that's what they are. Not pests or plague - creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does, but - but - they learn. And they strive for greater and they achieve it. You want a tally? Put their achievements against their failings, through the whole of time. I will back humanity against the Shakri every time."

"And so will I," Minerva added without a doubt.

The Shakri didn't look the least bit moved, "The Tally must be met. The second wave will be released," he declared and got to work on keyboard by him.

"Um, what does that mean?" Amy nudged Minerva.

"That probably means more cubes are going to be released," sighed the ginger, "which will then kill more people."

"The human plague, breeding and fighting. And, when cornered, their rage to destroy. You're too late, Doctor. The Tally shall be met," and the Shakri disappeared.

"He's gone?" Rory frowned.

"He was never really here. Just the ship's automated interface. Like a talking propaganda poster," the Doctor ran over to the computer with the sonic in hand, "I can stop the second wave. I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the dark space. Ah, but all those people who were near the cubes, so many of them will have died."

"I restarted one of your hearts," reminded Amy which instigated for a proper plan.

"You'd need mass defibrillation," Rory pointed out but it didn't look like it was a problem for the Doctor.

"Of course," the Doctor beamed, "Ah, beautiful! But, Ponds, Ponds, we're going to go one better than that. The Shakri used the cubes to turn people's hearts off."

"So then turn them back on again," Minerva shrugged and sighed.

"Bingo!" the Doctor clapped then placed a kiss on her forehead, "Clever Girl!"

"But will that work?" Amy asked with the evident doubt in her tone.

"Well, creatures of hope. Has to," the Doctor returned to his work with the sonic and the computer, "30 seconds. Don't let me down, cubes. You're working for me, now."

The ship shook the group violently, alerting them the plan was well on its way, "Em, should we get out of here?" Minerva stumbled into the Doctor.

"There's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here, any second. Run," the Doctor yanked his wife out of the way and ran out of the ship with the Ponds right behind.

Once again, the day was saved - and the Ponds had their last adventure...or so they thought.

~ 0 ~

Later that day, the Ponds, with Brian as well, had dinner with Minerva. It was Chinese food - a craving of Minerva no one seemed to mind caring to. The Doctor arrived a little later after taking care of some things with Kate Stewart. He came in time to listen to a wild conversation of...names?

"No, no, not that one!" Rory was saying while Minerva laughed and Amy snapped.

"Why not that one?" Amy was asking her husband.

"Because it's not normal!" came the response in a slight shout.

"Now calm down you two," Brian was trying to put order from his spot but it didn't seem to be working.

"What's going on?" the Doctor slowly asked upon entering the kitchen. He saw the Chinese boxes spread around the table followed by pieces of paper. Minerva herself was holding a clipboard in hand with Amy and Rory scooted as close as possible to see.

"They're trying to name your baby," Brian explain and deeply sighed, "but they keep getting into arguments."

"I think it's funny," informed Minerva with a shrug, "But sit," she gestured, "We've managed to narrow it down."

"Really? And what are they?" the Doctor asked as he took his seat by Brian.

"Well, I kind of like the name Irina for a girl now," Minerva said sheepishly, "And for a boy, perhaps Kai?"

"All good names," the Doctor nodded with a pensive look.

Rory took a forkful of Chinese food into his mouth yet still tried to communicate his opinion, "Mm, I really like the name Elias now," he glimpsed at the paper, "And for a girl the name Yael."

"Well," Amy dropped her fork on her plate with a thud, clearly irritated the conversation was still the way it was, "I really like the name Michael for a boy, and for a girl I like Regina now."

"No, she actually likes the name _Olivia_ for a girl," Minerva revealed to the Doctor, seeing Amy's sheepish glance, "she just doesn't want to admit it anymore because she knows it's my sister's name."

"But it's okay," Amy quickly waved off.

"What do you think?" Minerva asked the Doctor.

"Frankly...I like them all," the Doctor chuckled, "I love what ever name my baby will have, I just don't know which one I love more."

"Well that's helpful," Minerva sighed and lowered the clipboard to the table, "This baby's going to be born soon and we've got...nothing," she suddenly let a yawn slip from her mouth.

"You've got sleep to get," the Doctor declared and stood up, "That's one thing you need."

Minerva sighed, not even going to argue because she truly did feel worn out, "I'm sorry guys," she said instead and rose to her feet, "But maybe sleep will help me think about the names," the Doctor came over to her side and led her away from her seat, "Are you coming with us?" Minerva asked the human pair. Amy exchanged uneasy glances with her husband and neither said anything. Minerva sighed, "Sorry, I should've known."

"Just, let us know when the baby's born, okay?" Amy glanced back at them with a sad smile.

"Of course," the Doctor agreed, "We understand you both have lives here, beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously human. You don't want to give them up. We won't fault you for that."

"Actually," Brian spoke up, "it's you they can't give up. And I don't think they should. Go with them," he said to Amy and Rory, "Go save every world you can find - and witness the birth of an alien baby," he chuckled, "Who else has that chance? Life will still be here."

"You can come, Brian," Minerva said honestly, "There's more than enough room, believe me."

"Somebody's got to water the plants. Just bring them back safe," Brian remarked with.

"Of course," she promised and so all started out of the house.

Brian followed them out and remained at the doorway watching the group head into the TARDIS. The group waved Brian goodbye before entering the blue box, ready to continue their adventures for years more.

Or so they thought.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

So sorry for the tardiness of this chapter! Lots of homework that includes essays *groans*. But anyways, here you guys go! Do you know...what is...next? *starts crying already*

 ** _For the Reviews:_**

Lmao that's not a bad idea, the Amy pain! ^.^ It's next chapter and oh dear I wanna cry! Oh my god imagine that!? I'm pretty sure Amy would snatch that gun and smack the Doctor with it xD.

Thank you! And so am I, but it's finally time to say goodbye to them *sniffles*

* * *

So, um...next chapter has some...things...sad things, surprising things...oh boy, see you guys next week! :)


	5. On the Last Page

It was a peaceful afternoon in modern-day New York City. At the request of Amy, they had settled for a calm picnic at the Central Park. Frankly, it wasn't exactly Amy's first choice but she had seen Minerva getting more weary with each day, and she thought perhaps instead of running for one's life, the near-birthing woman deserved an afternoon of just lounging and eating. It had been a couple weeks since they had taken a permanent residence in the TARDIS again, and since Minerva was now in her second-to-last pregnancy month, and was passing the middle of it, things _needed_ to slow down.

And so, while Minerva and Rory laid flat on their backs over the mushy grass of the park, Amy and the Doctor sat back-to-back over two larger rocks. Amy was trying to read her newspaper but the Doctor seemed to think his book was pretty interesting seeing as he was reading it out loud.

"New York growled at my window, but I was ready for it. My stocking seams were straight, my lipstick was combat-ready and I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at 20 feet."

Amy finally had enough and put down her newspaper, glancing over her shoulder quite annoyed, "Doctor, you're doing it again."

The Doctor looked over his shoulder as well, annoyed he'd been cut off. He was pretty sure he was reaching the interesting part. "I'm reading!"

"Out loud," Amy rolled her eyes. "Please, could you not?"

The Doctor put down his book and shifted to get a look of Amy. Ever since the Ponds had returned to the TARDIS he'd been noticing a couple differences in them. "There's something different about you, isn't there?"

Minerva saw this was a potentially bad conversation and opened her eyes, thinking perhaps she had enough suntanning. "Martian, just stop reading out loud and you won't get scolded. And leave Amy alone, please."

Rory tilted his head upwards to catch a glimpse of the other two. "What's the book?"

"Melody Malone. She's a private detective in old-town New York," the Doctor said, glad someone was finding the book interesting as he was.

Amy proceeded to tease the Doctor, "She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips and a vulnerable side she keeps well-hidden."

"Oh, you've read it," the Doctor grinned.

"No, you read it. _Aloud_. And then went "Yowzah.""

Rory sat up completely then reached for Minerva's hand to help her sit up, "You know, only your husband could fancy someone in a book."

Minerva smiled and glanced back at the Doctor, "Well, his wife is looking more like a hippo each day - kind of understandable."

The Doctor frowned, slightly upset she would call herself that and much less that she would think that of herself and himself, "Hey! First of all, I do _not_ fancy the character. I simply think the _story_ is exciting. Do you know how many boring books I've been subjected to? And second of all, you are pregnant. Past middle of the ninth month, love, please remember that and defer from insulting yourself."

Minerva rubbed her far big stomach with a sly smile, "You better not be lying. In any case, I do love myself a vampire character in my series."

"What was that?" called the Doctor.

Rory helped her stand and laughed when she said, "Oh nothing, dear husband of mine."

The Doctor didn't let it go just like that, "Minerva, what did you say?"

Minerva started making her way to him and Amy, "I said I love you very much," she ruffled his hair then glanced at Amy, "Nice glasses, by the way, Amy."

Amy nodded her thanks and laughed when the Doctor studied them intently, "I don't like them. They make your eyes look all liney," he raised the glasses and blinked in realization, "No, actually. Sorry," he let them drop back into place then gave a look to Minerva, "They're fine. Carry on."

Minerva apologetically smiled to Amy. Rory knew where that conversation was headed to and tried making an escape, "O-kay. I'm going to go and get us some more coffee. Who wants more coffee? Me too! I'll go!"

"Rory," Amy shouted, "Do I have noticeable lines on my eyes now?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered and promptly Minerva clapped a hand over his mouth.

"No," Rory shook his head.

"You didn't look."

Rory turned around, "I noticed them earlier. _Didn't_ notice them. I specifically remember not noticing them."

"You walk among fire pits, centurion," warned Amy.

Rory smirked, "Do I have to come over there?"

"You can, if you like," shrugged Amy.

"Well, we have company," Rory came over, "and a child."

"Baby can't see yet," Amy flashed a smirk at the alien pair before kissing her husband.

"Oh but screw us, apparently," Minerva laughed as she sat down by the Doctor, "my baby gets saved."

"Still being called baby, then?" Amy asked.

"We're undecided," the Doctor answered and put an arm around Minerva's waist.

"How's about we talk it over coffee, then?" Rory suggested.

"Um, can I get some juice instead?" Minerva sheepishly raised a hand to ask.

"Definitely," Rory nodded and went on his way.

"Can I have a go?" The Doctor politely asked before taking the glasses from Amy's face and putting them on, "Oh!" he brought the book close and far, "Actually, that is much better. That is exciting."

"And only you can be excited over reading glasses," Minerva rolled her eyes, "Read to us, Martian," she leaned on his side, "Baby Irina wants to hear a story."

"Baby Irina?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"Baby Olivia?"

"Baby _boy_ ," the Doctor raised a finger, "meaning baby _boy_ _name_."

"Clarke?" Minerva tried for his sake, "Elias? Michael?"

"Don't know," the Doctor shrugged.

"You're impossible, you two," Amy shook her head, "My God child will not be like that, you know."

Minerva scoffed, "Good luck with that."

Amy was about to respond to that when she caught the Doctor ripping the last page of the book, "Okay, why did you do that?"

"Oh, I always rip out the last page of a book," he replied casually while Minerva rolled her eyes, "Then it doesn't have to end. I hate endings."

"This is why he's not allowed to touch _my_ books," Minerva sighed.

The Doctor shrugged and continued reading happily, "As I crossed the street, I saw the thin guy, but he didn't see me. I guess that's how it began…"

Somewhere along the paragraphs they decided to switch spots and ended up on the Bow Bridge. Minerva had grown tired of sitting and thought she needed a good walk.

"I followed the skinny guy for two more blocks before he turned and I could ask exactly what he was doing here. He looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes."

Minerva turned to the Time Lord with a smirk, "Say yowzah again and I'll just take the TARDIS to go meet some handsome men out there."

The Doctor mock glared at her, "The story, Minerva, that's all I care for."

"Good," she blew him a kiss which settled everything back into place…

...until the Doctor continued reading.

Amy noticed the facial change of his expressions, "Doctor? What did the skinny guy say?"

He jumped off the rail and read out loud, "He said, 'I just went to get coffees for the Doctor and Amy - and juice for Minerva. Hello, River'."

That was all it took for them to rush back to the TARDIS.

"Okay, I know my attention span no longer exists but how the hell does Rory and River end up in a book?" Minerva asked while they hurried for the blue box in sight.

"Well, Rory went to get coffee…" the Doctor pondered.

"Call me weird but that doesn't usually mean you end up in a book!"

"I think we should focus on how to get him _back_ ," Amy cut in and opened the doors of the TARDIS for them. The Doctor went straight for the console while Minerva slowly went towards the stairs leading up to the console.

"Someone get rid of these stairs!" she yelled her complain, not that anyone minded. She'd been yelling that one for a couple of weeks now.

"Okay," Amy stopped beside Minerva and helped her speed up to the console, "Where did you get this book?"

"It was in my jacket," the Doctor shrugged

"How did it get there?"

"Not a question you want to ask, Amy," Minerva shook her head, "You wouldn't believe what I've found sometimes."

"Date. Date," the Doctor called to them, "Does she mention a date? When is this happening?"

Amy flipped through the book to find the answer, "Yes, hang on. Uh - ooh! April 3, 1938."

However, reading further told them the TARDIS wouldn't be able to land properly, something the Doctor scoffed at loudly.

"Why not?" Minerva calmly asked Amy.

"Uh, -This city's full of time distortions. Be impossible to land the TARDIS here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard. Even I couldn't do it."

The Doctor scoffed again, but angrier, "Even _who_ couldn't do it?!" he turned to Minerva, "Your daughter is forever rude!"

Minerva laughed, "And you're ever the politest?'

The Doctor grumbled but didn't continue with that topic. He directed himself to the controls, busily laughing sardonically at his step-daughter, "1938. Easy one."

It...was not so easy. Sparks flew out from the console the moment it tried to materialized in 1938. The inhabitants inside were chucked around while an alarm sounded and appeared on the monitor. It finally came to a stop seconds later, but what laid outside was completely unknown.

"What was that?" Amy slowly recomposed herself as did the others.

"I believe we just bounced off 1938," Minerva answered and looked at the Doctor for confirmation.

The moment the TARDIS began spewing smoke the Doctor evacuated Minerva asunder Amy. On his way, he grabbed a fire extinguisher then kept Minerva and Amy at a safe distance from the blue box. It turned out they had landed on a cemetery in present day New York.

While Minerva felt it disrespectful, she had no choice but to sit over a headstone to rest. Nowadays, she grew tired far easier than was used to. That was why the Doctor has slowed down on heavy adventures during the last couple of weeks. She was no longer in any condition to be running around nor walking for long periods of times.

Amy was.

She was still flipping through pages of the book, "So it's the Weeping Angels…"

"It makes sense," the Doctor called from the TARDIS.

"It makes what?"

Minerva sighed, "That's what happened to Rory. That's what the Angels do. It's their preferred form of attack. They zap you back in time, let you live to death. That's what happened to the Doctor and I long ago too. It's heavily annoying."

"Well, we've got a time machine," reasoned Amy, "We can just go and get him."

"Well, tried that, if you've noticed, and we are back where we started, in 2012!" the Doctor exclaimed, still heavily irritated he hadn't succeeded.

"We didn't start in a graveyard. What are we doing here?"

"The place is probably linked, somehow."

"Doesn't matter," the Doctor dismissed then stuck his head inside the TARDIS, "Extractor fans on!"

"Well, we're going to get there, somehow. We're in the rest of the book."

"In what?" Minerva asked blankly.

"Page 43. You're going to break something."

"Excuse me?" Minerva's head snapped to Amy in an instant, realizing Amy had continued reading ahead.

"'Why do you have to break mine?' I asked Minerva. She frowned and said, 'Because Amy read it in a book and, now, I have no choice.'""

Minerva snatched the book from her frantically, clutching shut in her hands, "No! Stop! You can't read ahead. You mustn't and - and you can't do that."

"But we've already been reading it," Amy looked at her like she'd finally lost it. Perhaps after 9 months it was a common thing for Moontsays.

The Doctor walked over after the fans in the TARDIS had started working and took the book from Minerva, "We can only see the stuff that's happening now, in parallel with us. That's as far as we go."

"It could help us find Rory," Amy insisted.

"Amy," Minerva put a hand on Amy's arm, "And if you read ahead and find that Rory dies? This isn't any old future, Amy, it's ours. Once we know what's coming, it's fixed. Now I'm going to break something because you told me that I'm going to do it. No choice now."

"Time can be rewritten," came the almost plead from Amy.

"Not once you've read it," the Doctor took both hands of the ginger's and led them back to the TARDIS, "Once we know it's coming, it's written in stone."

After attaching a wheel to the console, the Doctor started piloting it as best as possible, "Okay, landing a plane in a timey wimey blizzard. I could push through, but, if I'm out by a nanosecond, the engines will phase and I'll shatter the planet. I need landing lights."

"Landing lights?" Amy raised her eyebrows, glancing at Minerva for a simpler explanation.

"He needs a signal to lock on," Minerva explained as she settled onto the jumpchair, "What did River say? Something about a dynasty?"

Amy realized the details and quickly searched through the book again.

The Doctor ended up bringing them to the early Quinn dynasty to leave a special message on the Chinese vase that old end up in 1938. Sure enough, the TARDIS was able to pick up the signal in 1938.

"Landing lights," the Doctor announced, "We have a signal. Locking on."

"Meaning hang on," Minerva gripped the armrests of her chair as the TARDIS began shaking again.

The Doctor managed to stay upright as he went around the console. Amy, however, rocked back and forth and hang to cling onto the side of the jumpchair.

Upon arrival, Amy struggled for the door, "Come on!"

"Oh no, don't help the pregnant woman that's about to pop, nooo," Minerva sighed as she wiggled her way to the edge of the chair.

The Doctor chuckled lightly as he went over to help, "C'mon love," he took her hand and helped her to her feet.

The two exited through TARDIS as Amy ran up the stairs of a large mansion. Minerva caught sight of River inside inside a study room, gasping at the Weeping Angel grasping her daughter's wrist, "What on Earth are you up to, young lady?" Minerva placed her hands on her hips as she looked at the the mess.

"Mother…" River's eyes visibly widened upon seeing Minerva's state, "...you're...you're…"

"I'd finish those words cleverly," Minerva warned and rested a hand on her stomach.

"He'll be fine," the Doctor came up behind Minerva after checking up on the man they'd accidentally knocked out.

River frowned, "Not if I can get loose."

"Can you believe the kind of trouble my daughter gets into?" Minerva sighed as they walked into the room.

"Well, she _is your_ daughter," the Doctor shrugged casually and ignored the glare Minerva sent him, "You were a trouble maker from the start."

"I smell lies," Minerva rolled her eyes, " _You_ taught me how to be a troublemaker."

"Me?" the Doctor feigned offense.

"Can we not do this while I'm in this predicament?" River gestured to her current situation.

"Where are we now, River?" Minerva asked her while the Doctor took a scan of the Angel, "I hope prison is comfortable. I've sent a couple of commodities for you."

"Oh mother, I was pardoned ages ago - but I did like the things you sent me in the past," River shrugged, "And I'm a professor now."

Minerva was unable to help the disappointment gleam in her eyes upon hearing that. Being a professor meant River was far closer to reaching the Library where...things would go bad.

"You were pardoned?" the Doctor took over the conversation while Minerva recomposed herself.

"Mmm! Turns out the person I killed never existed, in the first place. Apparently, there's no record of him. It's almost as if someone's gone around, deleting himself from every database in the universe."

"Well you said I'd got too big," the Doctor took a look at the readings on his sonic, "I took care of it."

"And, now, no one's ever heard of you," River teased, "Didn't you used to be somebody?"

"Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor?"

"Doctor who?"

"Ha," the Doctor mocked a laugh then patted the Angel statue, "She's holding you very tight."

"At least she didn't send me back in time."

"I doubt she's strong enough."

"How did this happen? Who did this?" Minerva questioned and River nodded to the unconscious man back at the doorway, "Hm, remind me to throw him in the dungeon."

"You don't have a dungeon, love," the Doctor reminded her.

"Now we do," Minerva grinned wickedly, "No one threatens my children while I'm around."

"Speaking of," River's eyes drifted to her mother's swollen stomach, "would've thought my sibling had been born already."

The Doctor quickly took opportunity, "You've seen him then, right?"

" _Her_ ," Minerva correcter, "She's seen her baby _sister_."

"That's right, you two won't know until it's born…" River smirked, "...I can have fun with that. But for now, I really would like much hand back, mother. So which is it going to be, are you going to break my wrist or hers?" Minerva looked down in guilt. Amy had returned but remained by the doorway of the room, the guilt also rising within her. River groaned when she realized the answer, "No, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?"

Minerva sighed and looked up at her, "Because Amy read it in a book and, now, I have no choice."

"You see?" the Doctor glanced at Amy. Amy guiltily look away.

"Well, what book?" River impatiently looked at the trio.

The Doctor showcased her book with an irritated tone, " _Your_ book. Which you haven't written yet, so we can't read!"

River tilted her head as she studied the front cover of the book, "I see. I don't like the cover much."

"Neither do I," Minerva crossed her arms, "We're going to talk about that one later."

"But if River's going to write that book, she'd make it useful, yeah?" Amy hopefully reasoned.

River nodded in agreement, "Well, I'll certainly try. But we can't read ahead. It's too dangerous."

"I know, but there must be something we can look at."

"What, a page of handy hints, previews, spoiler-free?" the Doctor crossly raised an eyebrow.

"Chapter titles!"

The Doctor snapped his fingers in agreement then researched the book, "He's in the cellar."

Amy grinned and held a hand out, wiggling her fingers, "Gimme!" she received the sonic and rushed to free Rory from the cellar of the mansion.

"You are and genius! Clever!" the Doctor praised River and kissed her hair, "Definitely my wife's daughter!"

"Oh so now that's a good thing," Minerva playfully rolled her eyes and headed for the cellar as well.

However, the Doctor came to an abrupt halt just inches from the doorway. Minerva glanced back with concern, "Martian, what is it? What's wrong?" But the Doctor didn't answer as he gripped the book in his hands looking ready to tear it apart, "Hey!? Stop that! Tell me what is it!" forcefully, she took the book from him and tried scanning the page for its malicious content.

 _Amelia's Last Farewell._

She reacted differently upon reading the last chapter. Her eyes were wet with looming tears, no anger, simply melancholic, "This...this can mean a lot of things," she whispered, "It-it can, yes, it can and…"

"Mother," called River, her eyes flickering from Minerva to the Doctor, "What is it? Tell me."

The Doctor took on an act of hostility as he turned to River, "You get your wrist out. You get your wrist out without breaking it."

River looked confused, but she remained calm for their sake, "How?"

"Just do it," Minerva pleaded in a faint whisper, "please, Fiorella. Do this for us. Change the future."

River looked at her wrist with distraught while the others left. She tugged on it but in vain; there was no way out.

What could she do?

~ 0 ~

Unfortunately, the rescue team had arrived too late in the cellar. Rory had been transported out by baby Angels. They were forced to return back upstairs to think of a new plan. While the Doctor paced in front of the staircase, Minerva and Amy sat on the third step to the last.

"So is this what's going to happen?" Amy wearily asked, "We just keep chasing him back in time and they keep pulling him further back."

River came out of the study room with her trench coat back on. She was holding a tablet in one of her hands and seemed entirely focused on it, "He isn't back in time. I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers. He's been moved in space, not in time, and it's not that far from here, by the look of it."

The Doctor was staring at her with relief, "You got out."

Minerva, on the other hand, was suspiciously eyeing the one arm hanging loose which River seemed to keep still.

"So where is he?" Amy stood up, ready to go wherever she was told to.

The Doctor had started pacing again but with an entirely new attitude, super excited, "Well, come on, come on, come on, where is he?!"

River scoffed, "If it was that easy, I'd get you to do it."

"How did you get your wrist out without breaking it?"

"You asked. I did. Problem?"

" _River_ ," River flinched at the tone Minerva used, sensing her lie was being caught.

The Doctor laughed, "You just changed the future!"

"River, come here," ordered Minerva, motioning to Amy she needed help getting up.

River ignored her mother's request and continued looking at her tablet, "Ah, wherever it is, it's within a few blocks. There's a car out front. Shall we steal it?"

"Show me!" the Doctor made the mistake of tugging on River's hand. He revealed her lie with her broken hand.

Minerva was now on her feet, heavily sighing, "Do not ever try to pull one over us," she scolded River as she approached her, "I will always know," she pulled River's manipulator off and handed it off to the stunned Doctor, "Get the location of Rory, I have to talk to my daughter. Scold her actually."

River looked away in guilt. She was dragged out of the building in silence and for a moment she wished Amy had joined them to help her. She'd never been scolded by a mother, and frankly she didn't want to be on Minerva's bad side.

"Okay," Minerva stopped them by the car River and Rory had been brought with, "you want to explain why you lied back there? I mean, you lie to the Doctor all the time - that's no surprise. Why'd you lie to me and Amy?"

"You asked, I tried," River couldn't help the childish sniffle that escaped her lips.

"I pleaded, but you couldn't do it - and that was okay," Minerva shrugged lightly, "There was no need to lie."

"I just wanted to please you," River swallowed hard, "I never do anything for you - never get it right - so I just wanted to get this one-"

Minerva has cut her off with a loud laugh, "Are you kidding me? You _have_ to be kidding me," but River kept staring at her with firm belief. Minerva straightened up and sternly spoke to her daughter, "Fiorella, you spent a good time in prison _because_ of us. You have no idea what you've done for us," the flashes of the Library ran through Minerva's head, making her eyes tear up, "You've saved us. Don't you ever think you have to prove yourself to us."

River tilted her head, biting her lip to stifle sobs, "I don't know...sometimes I see-" she stopped midway and blinked, looking as if something was about to slip.

"You see what?" Minerva asked. She traced River's gaze to her stomach and lightly gasped, "The baby? You've seen the baby!"

River nodded and managed a warm smile, "To me, my sibling has been born long ago, and yet, at the same time, it hasn't. I've seen my sibling grown up, doing the impossible, and you two being so proud. And how could you not be?" her smile turned sad in an instant, "Even as a baby my sibling was clever," she managed a small laugh, "Has/had the funniest attitude as a baby!"

Minerva loved to hear about her baby, knowing that it would inevitably be a good person, "Really?" she whispered and leaned forwards, "How funny?"

"Well, it's clever, and likes to show off-"

"That's the Doctor," Minerva quickly established.

"And it's sarcastic, very sassy with a couple of people. It teases one of them, actually...gets on her nerves with this name..."

Minerva took to playing with her hair to avoid pointing fingers at the obvious culprit, "Don't know where it gets that from…" she mumbled, making River genuinely laugh.

Minerva couldn't help laugh despite that last comment. She felt her baby kick as if it were agreeing with everything River had said, "I can't wait to see what you have in store for us," she told it and laughed again. She looked up at River and noticed her longing look, and she understood perfectly, "And you don't think that of yourself…"

River looked down, "I'm not a typical daughter. I wasn't even born the right way!"

"So what if we're a dysfunctional family?" Minerva laughed, "Haven't you heard? Normal is vastly overrated!"

"Oh mother," River began but was interrupted by Minerva.

"Don't 'Oh mother' me," she wagged a finger, "If I love Jenny, a daughter who is entirely the Doctor's, what makes you think I won't love _you_ \- a daughter who is a quarter mine?"

"I don't know…" River's voice trembled with looming tears, "...if you've seen the things I've done-"

"Oh, I know," Minerva sharply stared at her daughter, "I have ears and eyes all over the place. Think I'd just leave you gallivanting throughout the universe unsupervised?"

River swallowed hard and shuddered a breath, "I just thought-"

"You thought wrong so button it up," Minerva playfully snapped and hugged her, "I don't ever want to hear such nonsense coming from your mouth, do you understand?"

River stifled a sob and laughed, "Yes, mother."

"Good," Minerva pulled away then took River's broken hand, "Now stay still," she instructed and encased the broken hand with hers.

Blue regenerative energy glowed throughout the encased hand. River complained about it but Minerva kept at it until she finished."Moonie, you shouldn't have," River examined her healed hand with a sigh.

"I shouldn't have healed my daughter? As if," Minerva scoffed and took her hand, leading her back towards the doors, "C'mon!"

At that moment, the Doctor and Amy rushed out with River's tablet, "Got it! He's in a place called Winter Quay. The car, yes? Let's go."

Minerva exchanged looks with River, "Okay," they agreed and rushed to leave.

~ 0 ~

Winter Quay turned out to be patrolled by Angels. The moment the group arrived, they were greeted with an Angel. Thankfully, Amy found Rory inside an apartment - until River noticed the nameplate outside the very apartment: R. Williams.

Minerva felt a shiver run down her spine when she spotted an Angel across the hallway with a twisted grin on its face. She moved closer to the Doctor, "Why is it smiling, Martian?"

The Doctor then saw the nameplate for himself, "Amy! Rory!" he yanked Minerva and River into the apartment.

River locked the door and caught up with them.

"Get out of here. Don't look at anything. Don't touch anything," the Doctor frantically told Amy and Rory.

Amy ignored him to peer inside the room they were in. She found an elderly man on a bed, "Who's that?" she blinked.

The man seemed to gasp awake at the sight of the ginger, "Amy!" he called in a raspy voice, "Amy, please!" Amy slowly went to him, "Amy!" the man took her hand, "Please. Please."

As Amy knelt down she realized something truly important, horrifically important, "Rory, he's you!"

The old man gasped and dropped his head to his pillow, "Amy," he said once more before dying.

Amy stood back up and Rory faced the alien pair at the threshold, "Someone, please, tell me what is going on."

Minerva bit her lip and looked at the Doctor, wondering who should tell him the truth. The Doctor lightly sighed and answered, "I'm sorry, Rory, but you just died."

Minerva rubbed the side of her head and felt the need to rest again. So, she went over to a chair by the window, "So this place is patrolled by Angels. Wonderful, anyone got a plan?"

"So this place belongs to the Angels? They built it?" Amy tried understanding.

"Displacing someone back in time creates time energy and that is what the Angels feed on," the Doctor relayed information as he went to his wife's side, "But, normally, it's a one-off, a hit-and-run. If they could keep hold of their victims, feed off their time energy over and over again... This place is a farm, a battery farm. How many Angels in New York?"

"It's like they've taken over every statue in the city," River looked back at the locked door.

"Yeah, the Angels take Manhattan because they can," Minerva shook her head, "New York never sleeps. Think of the food source here?" she flinched when they heard a loud crash from outside.

Rory broke the silence that fell after the crash, "What was that?"

"I don't know, but I think they're coming for you," the Doctor wearily looked at the human.

"What does that mean? What is going to happen to me? What is physically going to happen?"

"The Angels are coming for you, Rory," Minerva answered firmly, "They will come, and they will zap you back in time to this spot, some 30 or 40 years ago. You will live out the rest of your life in that room, until you die in that bed."

Rory ignored the crashing noise outside again and focused on something important, "And will Amy be there?"

Minerva hated to break the hope on the man's face, "No. She will not be."

"How do you know?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"Easy, because he was so pleased to see you again," Minerva took the Doctor's hand and gripped it, "If it were me seeing my Martian after 40 years I'd react like that…"

"Okay," Rory breathed, "Well, they haven't taken me yet. What if I just run?" the alien pair looked at each other while they thought, "What if I just get the hell out of here? Then that never happens."

"It's already happened, Rory," the Doctor sighed, "You've just witnessed your own future."

"Moonie, Doctor, he's right," River stepped forwards.

"No, he isn't," the Doctor snapped but that didn't stop River.

"If Rory got out, it would create a paradox."

Minerva was irritated when she heard another crash, "What the hell is that!?"

The crashing outside gets louder.

"Moonie, please listen," River begged for her mother's shot attention span, "This is the Angels' food source. The paradox poisons the well. It could kill them all. This whole place would literally unhappen."

Minerva raised her eyebrows and turned her head up to the Doctor, "She's not wrong you know. It could work."

"It would be almost impossible," he rubbed his face.

She smiled, "Loving the "almost"."

The Doctor lowered his hands from his face and glanced at the humans, "But to create a paradox like that takes almost unimaginable power. What have we got? Eh? Tell me. Come on, what?"

Amy went to Rory and took his hand, "I won't let them take him. That's what we got."

Minerva groaned as she tried standing on her own until the helped her, "Well I love the wife's determination," she flinched with another crash, "but I hate whatever that is. It's getting closer."

"Rory, even if you got out, you'd have to keep running for the rest of your life," the Doctor warned, "They would be chasing you forever."

Amy mocked a long sigh and headed for the door, "Well, then, better get started," she flung the door opened and found an Angel outside, "Husband, run!"

Rory hugged Minerva and the Doctor in goodbye then ran out with Amy. The Doctor took out his sonic and headed for the door with Minerva and River.

"I'm not sure this can work," he confessed.

Minerva chuckled when she felt the baby kick, "I think your baby is disagreeing with you," she took his hand then River's and all ran out of the apartment.

They nearly ran into two Angels that were blocking the way out. They made the lights flicker on and off to be able to surround them. The sonic was being of no use as the Angels loomed closer and closer.

"I can't keep doing this," the Doctor panicked.

"Any ideas?" called River.

"I've got one," Minerva raised a hand, "Usual one actually: _run_."

And so they did.

The Doctor burst inside a staircase but saw it was being blocked off by several Angels. On alert, he pushed the two women back out into the hallway. They came across a fire escape which turned out to be their only way out.

"Oh c'mon," Minerva groaned as she rubbed her stomach, viewing the stairs as the devil's work.

"Sorry, love, but let's go," the Doctor laid as sloppy kiss on her lips and pulled her to them.

As she could, she climbed the stairs with the others. Up on the roof they got the worst sight of their lives: Amy and Rory were standing on the ledge of the roof, about to throw themselves off.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the Doctor let out a strangled scream.

"Changing the future," Amy was the one to answer, "It's called "marriage," they fell over the side without ever looking away from each other.

"Amy! Rory!" Minerva cried along with the Doctor, both breaking into a run after them.

They watched in despair as their companions fell down and down. Minerva felt a sharp jab at her stomach and yelped, "Ah!"

The Doctor quickly took hold of her and happened to notice the changes happening around them. Hope surged, "The paradox...Clever Girl, hang on, if the paradox works then you'll be okay…"

A bright light took them over and returned them to 1938. Amy and Rory survived and were returned to the cemetery with the others. Minerva leaned on the doors of the TARDIS while the others rejoined her.

"Moonie, are you okay?" River was the first to be with her and was studying her in concern.

Minerva took a deep breath and rubbed her stomach, "Yeah, yeah, I think it was just the impact of seeing my child's godparents _jumping_ off a roof," she glared at the humans.

"Sorry," Amy scratched her hair.

Rory chuckled, "Just take it easy for now and you should be fine."

"I've got a good idea," the Doctor neared Minerva and kissed her head, "A pub?"

Minerva nodded with a smile, "Yes, please."

"I want to go to the pub right now. Are there videogames there?" the Doctor glanced at Rory, "I love video games."

"Right, family outing, then," River opened the doors and gestured for them to go in.

Rory remained outside due to a headstone that intrigued him, "Amy! Come see this," he called.

"What?" she returned from the TARDIS.

"There's a gravestone here for someone with the same name as me," Rory was able to say before he was zapped by a remaining Angel behind.

Amy's eyes widened in terror, "Doctor! Minerva!"

The trio came out of the TARDIS in a rush and saw the lone Angel across them.

"Where the hell did that come from?" River snapped angrily.

The Doctor used the sonic on the Angel, "It's a survivor. Very weak, but keep your eyes on it."

"Where's Rory?" Amy asked though she knew the answer very well.

The Doctor went up to the headstone by Amy and read Rory's name; he died at age 82, "I'm sorry, Amelia. I'm so, so sorry."

Minerva felt tears well in her eyes, as well as a small jab at her stomach. Amy shook her head, "No. No, we can just go and get him in the TARDIS. One more paradox."

"Would rip New York apart," finished the Doctor tearfully.

"No, that's not true. I don't believe you," Amy gritted her teeth. This couldn't be happening - they had just gotten Rory back! He couldn't be gone again!

"Amy, I'm sorry, it's true," Minerva stepped forwards, unsure of how Amy would react. Her husband was, technically, _dead_. The mere thought put Minerva into a sick state.

Amy shuddered a breath, knowing what she had to do. It wasn't even that difficult of a decision, honestly. She knew where she belonged, where she wanted and needed to be: by Rory's side. She loved Minerva, she loved the Doctor, she loved River, and she already immensely loved her unborn godchild...but she loved Rory more. Her daughter was grown up now, she didn't need them anymore. When she took a step towards the Angel, she confused the rest.

"Amy? What are you doing?" the Doctor frowned at her.

"That gravestone, Rory's, there's room for one more name, isn't there?"

"What are you talking about?" the Doctor went by her trying to take her to the blue box only to be shooed away, "Back away from the Angel. Come back to the TARDIS! We'll figure something out!"

Amy refused, "The Angel, would it send me back to the same time, to him?"

"I don't know. Nobody knows," the Doctor tried taking her back but it was all in vain.

Amy took another step for the Angel, "But it's my best shot, yeah?"

"Yes," Minerva stifled a sob. The Doctor looked at her incredulously, almost reproaching for her help. But Minerva knew that if she were in Amy's spot, and it had been the Doctor who'd been zapped away, she would do anything to be with him again. It was the American and the Martian after all, it would always be like that.

And it would always be Amelia Pond and Rory Williams together. The Ponds.

"Well, then, I just have to blink, right?" Amy asked in a trembling voice.

"No!" the Doctor half-shouted.

"It'll be fine. I know it will. I'll - I'll be with him, like I should be. Me and Rory, together. Melody," she held her hand for River behind her. In tears, River moved forwards and took Amy's hand, giving it one last kiss. "You listen to your Moonie-mummy now, alright?. Be a good girl and you look after them,"

"You are creating a fixed time. We will never be able to see you again," the Doctor frantically shouted at Amy, but the ginger shook her head.

"I'll be fine. I'll be with him."

"Amy, please. Just - Come back into the TARDIS," he pleaded, "Come along, Pond, _please_."

Amy was doing her best not to let her sobs interfere with her words, "Tell my god child it was very loved by their godparents, and that no matter what, we will always love him or her."

"A-Amy," Minerva couldn't finish her own sentence. Even if she did, what would she say? She couldn't say goodbye to them, she had never had to see a companion leave under these circumstances

Amy took in a deep breath and made her final sentence. "My princess without a crown, Raggedy man-" she turned around fast, revealing red eyes full of tears, "-goodbye!"

And then, the Angel zapped her.

The Doctor broke down in sobs after that, falling to his knees. No one saw but Amy's name appeared on the tombstone where Rory had already been buried, saying she died at age 87. Minerva couldn't stand the injustice and screamed her sobs out. However, the pain in her stomach shot right up and with great intensity. Her scream turned into that of physical agony.

River was the one to see blood trickling down Minerva's legs. Terror struck and she cried as well, "Doctor!"

Still on the ground, the Doctor looked up to see the most horrible sight. He now had two terrible tasks to do: kill the lone Angel and see to his wife. But after disposing of the Angel, he and River came to a realization.

Labor had been induced early.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

Oh...my god...just _editing_ this made me sob all over again. I'm a wimp when it comes to companions' departures. I know Clara's arc is technically up next now but I'm already dreading writing her end. But uh-oh Minerva's...going...into...labor! o.o How do we think that's gonna go?

And actually, there'sa mini-chapter between this one and the Snowmen episode so here's the question I want to ask you: do you want to see the mini-chapter that consists of the birth and aftermath within this update [which would be posted tomorrow] or do you want to wait until the next update [in 2 weeks] to see the mini-chapter? If you want to wait until the next update then I would post the mini-chapter _and_ the Snowmen chapter on the same day :)

 _ **For the Reviews:**_

Hmm, that's not a bad idea. I actually already have that chapter written down completely in a way I thought would be good. I won't reveal who's with the Doctor or if he's alone, but it has a little twist ;)

BECAUSE MOFFAT WANTED US TO SUFFER THAT'S WHY :'( It was such a cruel ending for the Ponds but I guess there was no other way the Ponds would ever leave 11 if it wasn't because something was forcing them. Hope you didn't cry too much!

Yeah, Minerva's not usually the one to cuss lmao so that's how you know she's angry. And that's kind of funny considering my next OC with the Doctor is the exact opposite in her vocabulary. Can't wait to show her lmao! Omg that's also funny cos I'm actually 2 episodes away from writing that episode so it'll be pretty interesting how I'll make her react xD. For the Day of the Moon I have a little plot twist set so she might not be too upset in that one.

* * *

Soo...that's pretty much it, hope you guys are okay and have plenty of tissues. Farewell to the Ponds and welcome Clara Oswald next (her story arc is one of my favorites eeek!)


	6. The New Heir of the Monsoon

_**Author's Note:** This is meant to be a small, filler chapter with no real plot except to reveal Minerva's labor process. After this comes the true new chapter of the week. So, without further ado, I present to you the new baby in the TARDIS._

* * *

A newborn baby cooed in the arms of Minerva, its tiny hands barely moving as some of Minerva's long hair fell over them. She sat upright on a bed in the Monsoon palace, dressed in loose clothing for her comfort. After giving birth, and made sure she was alright, she'd been transferred to her shared bedroom with the Doctor to relax and get comfortable. The Doctor had stepped out a couple minutes ago due to Minerva requesting a glass of water.

The birth had taken a mighty amount of her water reservoir in her system; she'd be drinking water very often for the next couple of weeks.

Her baby gurgled as more of Minerva's hair fell over. Minerva chuckled lightly and pushed away her hair, "You like my hair? I like yours too. But your father might be a little jealous," she leaned down and kissed her baby's soft _ginger_ tuff of hair over its head. She sighed and looked up, her smile saddening as she became pensive, "Your birthday will be bittersweet, I'm afraid. You were born on the day your godparents died."

' _That was the woman with the funny voice, right?_ ' she heard the high voice of her baby in her mind, ' _And my nurse?_ '

Minerva looked down at the baby, "Amelia Pond and Rory Williams. They loved you so much. And we'll remember them every day."

The Doctor opened the door and came inside holding two water bottles. He shut the door with his foot and walked over to the bed, taking a seat beside her, "Got it," he kissed her cheek and set down one water bottle and opened up the other one.

"I can drink on my own, Martian," she chuckled as he lifted the bottle to her lips.

"You're tired, let me help in any way I can," the Doctor put a hand under her chin and tilted the bottle for her to drink.

"Thank you," she smiled at him afterwards. His response was a kiss on the lips.

' _Eugh, why are you doing that?_ ' came the interjection of their baby, making them pull away, ' _That is eugh!'_

Minerva chuckled and rested her head on the Doctor's shoulder, "I'm sorry, dear. You'll have to get used to that, everyone does eventually."

' _I refuse,_ ' the baby promptly responded.

The Doctor stared at Minerva after that, "Definitely your baby."

"I actually can't believe I _have_ a baby," she blinked, "Not even at the last moment I was able to process it."

* * *

 **Hours earlier.**

 _The Doctor had materialized the TARDIS inside the Monsoon palace and bolted out carrying Minerva in his arms. She was breathing rapidly and yelping in pain, her hands on her stomach and her legs stained with red._

 _River came out behind the two shouting, "Baby! Baby's on the way! The Queen is in labor!"_

 _"Doctor, I can't! I can't!" Minerva cried and frantically shook her head._

 _"Shh! It's okay! Everything will be okay!" the Doctor assured while he sped up._

 _"I'm having a baby, Doctor! I don't know how to!"_

 _The Doctor knew she was speaking without being highly conscious and simply went along with it, "Don't worry, love, they'll tell you what to do." But he also knew that this sort of labor had been the exact type they had been trying to avoid at all costs._

 _"But I don't know what to do with a baby!" she exclaimed and threw her head back._

 _"They tell you what to do for that too!" the Doctor dismissed. Minerva screamed and kicked her legs up, making him flinch, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! We're almost there! Hang on!"_

 _It was fairly fast gathering everyone required to help Minerva. Apparently, Mayar had foreseen some sort of induced labor due to the fact Minerva's mother - Queen Nienke - had gone through it herself giving birth to Minerva. Everyone had been on standby for about a month now. As it turned out, the blood that had initially began the labor was no means to worry, it really just meant she was **in** labor._

 _Minerva dropped her head on the pillow underneath her with with a loud scream. She panted heavily and gripped the hand in hers with all she could. The Doctor was beside her, ignoring the crushing grip she had on him, and was comforting her, "It's okay, love," he took a cloth from one of the nurses and patted her forehead, "Almost there, promise."_

 _Minerva nodded and raised her head again. She was near done, apparently, with contractions and pushing, and frankly she couldn't wait for the agonizing pain to be over. The doctor delivering the baby gave her a small nod to continue, "One more should do it," he assured._

 _"Okay," Minerva swallowed hard and glanced at the Doctor, "Let's do this, then. But know that I'm gonna kill you for this afterwards. This is **your** fault."_

 _The Doctor smiled and held back a chuckle, "You push and deliver our baby and you can kill me all you want."_

 _"Kaeya," the doctor called, "next contraction you'll push and you'll push all you can."_

 _Minerva nodded in understanding and sure enough she felt the next contraction within seconds. She pushed all she could and in between gave a couple of screams. Her head dropped back on the pillow again the moment she heard a baby's cry. She released the Doctor's hand and shut her eyes to take a deep breath. Her chest heaved up and down as she tried collecting herself. She felt incredibly tired, her energy drained. She could really go for a glass of water._

 _"Congratulations, you two," the doctor said after a brief checkup of the baby. A nurse was busy wrapping the baby in a blanket while their doctor gave them the news, "It's a strong, healthy baby boy."_

 _The Doctor let out a delirious laughter as he and Minerva saw their newborn son being brought to them._

 _" **BOY**?" Minerva's mouth fell open in shock._

 _"A boy!" the Doctor cheered as he took his baby into his arms. The baby's eyes opened to reveal a familiar emerald green shade._

 _Minerva blinked rapidly, the shock still very present in her, "A boy? I had a **boy**?"_

 _The Doctor nodded and kissed her temple, "I win," he whispered in her ear with a tiny smirk._

 _Minerva swallowed hard as he passed on the baby to her. With his help, she was carefully sat slightly more upright. She looked down to see her son staring at her as if he were studying her, "H-hello…" she didn't know what to do nor say._

 _And yet, for some reason, she burst into sobs._

 _"Hey, hey, what is it?" the Doctor shushed her with a rub on her back._

 _"Some mother's get emotional after giving birth," explained one of the nurses._

 _"They're happy tears," Minerva assured and even started smiling, "I'm sorry," she apologized to her son who was looking slightly afraid, "I don't usually look like this," she suddenly realized her appearance wasn't the best at the moment._ _Her hair was a damn mess and partially wet from her sweat. Her face was glowing because of the sweat, and a good portion of it was red, and frankly she was severely tired._

 _'_ Mommy can't hear me, can she? She stopped wearing the ring! _' the Doctor felt a breath leave him upon hearing his son's voice in his mind for the first time._

 _Minerva noticed the strange look on the Doctor's face, "What is it?"_

 _A smile broke across the Doctor's face, followed by a chuckle._

 _"What?" Minerva frowned._

 _He looked at her and leaned closer, holding back the second round of laughter, "Our baby's American."_

* * *

"I suppose I can't use those pink booties," Minerva sighed as she wrapped her baby up in his blanket again after changing him.

' _I don't want pink, Mommy!_ ' the baby exclaimed.

Minerva wore her wedding ring again and was loving the fact she could hear their son talking inside their heads. The Doctor took their baby from her and laughed, "Told you it was going to be a boy."

"I wanted a girl!" huffed Minerva.

' _Does that mean you don't want me, Mommy?_ ' came the sad voice of the baby.

"Oh no, no, no, no! Don't think that, sweetheart," Minerva shook her head, "I love you. I just thought you'd be a girl, that's all."

"Mm, guess we'll just have to try again," the Doctor smirked at her, making her blush.

"You're kidding me? I literally just finished popping this kid out and you're already thinking of the _second_ baby?"

"Yes," the Doctor cluelessly nodded.

Minerva sighed, "You're lucky you're a cute idiot."

The Doctor beamed and kissed her lips, "I'm _your_ cute idiot."

"Right, and that's my cute, Clever boy," she pointed at the baby then looked at him a while, "Our _mini-Martian_ …"

The two aliens stared at their son who gurgled in response. They relished the moment together, thanking the stars that everything had gone right in the birth despite the fact the baby had been born a near month early. He was as healthy as could be, which was all anyone wanted.

"Kaeya?" Mayar opened the door a crack. He entered once seeing them all awake, "Listen, I know you're tired, but...have you thought of a name yet? Or at least how you'll name him? He has to have a name you know."

Minerva looked at the Doctor for a moment before nodding, "We know how we'll name him but not what. We're following the old Time Lord tradition."

Mayar nodded in understanding, "Well, let me know, sweetheart. Oh, and Zohar told me she was taking the TARDIS to collect the humans to bring them here."

"Sounds good," Minerva agreed.

"Moonie?" River poked her head inside the room, "Can I come in?"

"Well I would hope you're coming to see your baby brother," Minerva motioned for her to come in.

"Well technically we already met," River came inside and took a seat in front of the pair. She set down her yet-to-be-written book with the ripped page the Doctor had discarded on the bed. She leaned forwards and peered to see her brother, "Hi there," she cooed, "I'm your big sister - well, one of them - and just know you'll be loved always."

' _Her hair's funny!_ ' the baby gurgled but was heard telepathically by his parents.

River heard the chuckles of the alien and stared at them, "What? What is it?"

"You two are going to get along just fine," the Doctor patted her arm while still laughing.

River immediately frowned at her baby brother, "You're lucky you're a baby right now. When I see your older self you're getting hell for whatever you said!"

"Hey!" Minerva scolded and covered her son's ears, "Language!"

That made River scoff, "Oh please, Moonie, you should hear him in his older days."

Minerva looked down at her son, "It's been a couple hours since you were born and you're already grounded? You sure are taking after your father already."

"Hey!" the Doctor frowned.

River shook her head and saw the book she'd come in with, "Moonie, I, um, I brought this…" she pushed the book and page to them, "...Amy, she, um, she wrote something for you two - three," she smiled at her brother, "It's an afterword. And, um, I stopped by on Earth to tell Brian and…" she chuckled, confusing the two aliens, "...they adopted. There's a whole lot of Williams and Ponds for you to meet now."

Minerva and the Doctor looked stunned but nonetheless joyful to hear that. The Doctor reached for the ripped page and cleared his throat before reading it:

Afterword, by Amelia Williams.

' _Hello, old friend. And here we are, you and me, on the last page. By the time you all read these words, Rory and I will be long gone. So know that we lived well and were very happy. And, above all else, know that we will love you all, always. Tell our little godchild that we hope to meet them one day, even if it's just passing by one of our past versions. There's no rule against that I should imagine. But now, Doctor, I think, once we're gone, you won't want to come back here for a while. Let Minerva take care of you, let yourselves be loved by your family, and above all be happy. And you know what? Bring to me my godchild. Because right now, there's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that, if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates. She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait 2,000 years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived and save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond - and this is how it ends._ '

"And what a wonderful story she lived," Minerva let her tears flow down her cheeks.

~ 0 ~

Minerva was finishing down another water bottle when the Doctor returned from a quick trip to meet the arriving friends and family at the TARDIS. Their son had been placed beside Minerva in the meantime she drank.

"They're here," the Doctor announced quietly so as to not wake the baby up.

Minerva smiled and chucked the water bottle to the trash, "Great," she watched him pick up their son and take a seat beside her, all the meanwhile bearing a melancholic look, "You're not okay…"

"Of course I'm okay," he swallowed hard and kept his eyes on his baby, "My son was born today, and my wife's okay. Why shouldn't I be?"

"Because you lost two important people along the way," Minerva scooted closer to him and wrapped her arms around his one arm and rested her head on his shoulder, "Because two people we truly loved are gone forever. That's why you're not okay. And that's okay, dear. It's alright to be sad today. I'm sad too."

"It was my fault-"

"No it wasn't," Minerva declared firmly, not about to have that conversation, "It was an accident - and Amy's choice. We cannot blame ourselves alright? In the end, that's what always happens, dear," her voice slowly turned sad with truth dripping at every word, "In the end, people always leave. Humans don't stay forever, and eventually they'll want to leave."

"In the end, it'll always be just us," the Doctor sighed. However, the more he stared at his sleeping son, and wife, the idea didn't sound too bad. He kissed Minerva's hair and whispered, "In the end, it'll always be just us."

Minerva nodded and snuggled closer to him, unable to help the yawn escape her lips, "So, how about that name?"

"Oh, I thought we decided already…" the Doctor said, rather confused.

Minerva shifted to look up without letting go of him, "Mhm, I just wanted to know if you changed your mind or anything before the others came."

"No, I think his name is perfect," the Doctor nodded, "All of them."

On cue, someone knocked on the door. After being told to come in, blonde Jenny came in with a wide grin, "I came to see my baby brother!" she exclaimed.

"And my great grandson," Isadora came in after.

"And my grandson,' Nicolas said.

"And my nephew," Aaron pointed warningly at the alien pair, "And he's _only_ my nephew - none of this grandpa-uncle thing."

Minerva laughed and sat straight, "Uncle Aaron, you're past 40, accept it."

"I'll accept it when you accept your past 900."

"Oh, he's adorable," Jenny cooed at her baby brother that was slowly waking up with a small yawn. She'd taken him into her arms and was showing him off to the others.

"Of course he is, just look at _us_ ," the Doctor gestured to himself and Minerva, making everyone laugh.

Slowly, the former companions and remaining human family came into the room to see the new addition. Mayar was the last one to come inside. He wasn't the least bit surprised to see a room that was supposed to be completely calm for his granddaughter be taken over by chattering humans - and the one Time Lord/Moontsay/Human hybrid. It wasn't until the baby began to cry that everyone quieted down.

"Did I hurt him!?" it was poor Stacey Donovan that had been holding him at the time. She was terrified beyond belief as she quickly handed him over to Minerva, "Oh God I'm so sorry!"

"Stacey, you need to be careful," her younger sister, Tamara, scolded her.

Minerva chuckled as she gently rocked her baby, "Don't worry about it, Stacey. He's probably overwhelmed."

' _I want her shiny bracelet!_ ' went the baby inside hers and the Doctor's minds, ' _It's shiny!_ '

"Or maybe he just wants your bracelet," the Doctor pointed to Stacey's red bracelet on her wrist.

"Already demanding," whistled Mickey as he and Martha entered the room with Zohar.

"Mickey! Martha!" Minerva gasped in delight to see her best friends joining them.

"Sorry we're late, someone had an accident," Martha gestured to her one year old daughter she held.

"Sh!" the small one scolded her mother, clearly wanting no one to know of that detail.

"But now that we're here," Mickey wrapped an arm around Martha's waist and smirked, "Guess what time it is?"

The smile on Minerva's face started fading, "Oh no…"

"I told you we'd be there when they popped out an alien baby," he told Martha who snickered.

"Oh c'mon!" the Doctor exclaimed and groaned.

"I saw this coming in 1969," Martha told them with her own smirk, "Of course I saw him being a girl."

"Martha!" Minerva scolded, unable to believe this was actually happening.

"You let her have it when Elizabeth was born," Donna reminded and earned a deep glare from Minerva.

"And thank you for helping!"

Donna laughed, "I was only saying-"

"Don't!"

"Mummy, baby," little Elizabeth Smith pointed Martha to the baby in Minerva's arm.

"You want to meet him?" the Doctor called and Elizabeth gave a sheepish nod, "C'mon then."

Martha moved over and set Elizabeth beside Minerva, "Be careful, Eli."

Elizabeth ignored her mother and used Minerva as a support to stand on the bed. She leaned her face close to the baby's, "Name?" she quickly looked up at the Doctor and Minerva, "Baby name!"

"He has a name, Eli, we promise," Minerva smiled.

' _Mommy, who's that?_ ' went the baby.

"Meet your cousin," Minerva answered him, "Elizabeth Smith."

"Me!" Elizabeth cried cheerfully, pointing to herself.

The baby gurgled as if to say something, but instead spoke in the mind, ' _I like her!_ '

"Everyone," Minerva's eyes raised to the adults crowding around the bed, "We'd like you to meet our son…" she glanced at the Doctor with a secretive smile he returned, "Elias Oliver Smith."

"Real name stays within blood family," the Doctor explained afterwards, "hope you don't mind."

"Minerva," Isadora was in near tears as was Nicolas and Aaron, clearly all understanding something the others didn't.

"Amy really liked the name Olivia," Minerva sighed sadly, "but we have a son, so we gave him Oliver."

"And Rory really liked the name 'Elias', so we gave him that too," the Doctor added with his own sad smile.

"His name is in memory of his loving Godparents," Minerva played with one of Elias's hands, "because they _will_ be remembered," she looked directly at Mayar and Zohar, "I want statues of them in the mourning room, along with my parents, my grandfather and sister. Please."

Mayar nodded as did Zohar, "We'll get on that right now," Zohar assured and turned away.

The Doctor wrapped his arms around Minerva and brought her closer to him. With tears in their eyes, they watched their son try to play with a strand of Minerva's hair.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

 _Do you know how much fun it was writing this little chapter!? A lot of it came from the fact I just really, really love Elias! I've been writing him for a long time now and I think you're going to find his relationship with Clara funniest of all! His true name - the one kept between his parents and himself - will be revealed in the next chapter, just a note!_

 _So, that's pretty much it here! Any reviews left over from the previous chapter will be replied to in the next chapter! Well guys, heres to the beginning of my favorite arc of a companion - with my own favorite twist as well! I introduce, Clara Oswin Oswald...and someone else :)_


	7. A Governess & her Friend

_**Author's Note** : Just a pronunciation of Elias' name: Eh-lie-us **or** Ee-lie-us. It can go either way!_

* * *

A young brunette barmaid collected empty tank yards off the empty tables. She set them on a tray and looked up to the good share of customers all bustling about inside. It was a loud night as usual filled with all sorts of drunks.

"Just one more night, Holly," she mumbled with clear excitement and looked to her side as if someone stood beside her.

- _I really don't like the lie though_ \- she heard back. But to anyone else, there was never a voice, much less a second woman standing beside the barmaid.

The barmaid glanced to her side and raised an eyebrow, "Oh, but it's for a good cause, Holly. So I'm not a true governess...but I love the kids, what's the harm?"

The person the barmaid was apparently speaking to, Holly, shook her head, - _Dunno, Clara, lying is never okay_ -

Clara, the barmaid, ignored Holly and went for the backdoor. She placed her tray down on a barrel then heard a peculiar noise not too far. She saw a snowman across her, one she was sure hadn't been there before.

"Did you make that snowman?" she asked a man walking by.

"No," the man bluntly answered without stopping.

Clara put her hands on her hips, "Well, who did? Cos it wasn't there a second ago. It just appeared, from nowhere."

The Doctor stopped, turned around and returned for Clara, slipping on Amy Pond's old circular glasses. He went up to the snowman and pinched snow off it to examine it between his fingers. "Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen."

- _Snow that can remember?_ \- Clara heard Holly's scoff.

"I know," Clara made a huff, "It's silly."

The Doctor heard her mumbles and glanced back, "And what's wrong with silly?"

"Nothing," Clara dropped her hands to her side, "We're still talking to you, aren't we?"

" _We_?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow and took his glasses off, intrigued by the brunette.

- _Careful, Clara_ \- Holly cautioned while Clara thought how to explain, - _One wrong word and you can end up in an Asylum_ -

Clara knew Holly was right. Imaginary friends were socially acceptable when you were a child, not when you're a grown woman. They would discard her as a mad woman talking to air. "Nothing," she quickly mumbled when she realized the Doctor was still waiting for a response.

Still intrigued, the Doctor went on to ask, "What's your name?"

"Clara."

- _And I'm Holly, thank you for asking_ -

Clara bit down a laughter due to her sarcastic friend.

The Doctor sighed and put away the glasses, "Nice name, Clara. You should definitely keep it. Goodbye!"

- _Well, that was rude_ \- Holly commented when the Doctor walked off, - _Not even a name from him_ -

"I know right?" Clara dashed after the Doctor, "Oi! Where are you going? I thought we were just getting acquainted."

It was the Doctor's turn to scoff as he turned around, "Those were the days. It's just my wife, my son, and me; it's just _us_ ," he recited the phrase that had become his safe words for the past couple months.

Clara made to leave when the Doctor continued on his way.

- _That was dramatic_ \- remarked Holly.

Clara agreed and turned around for the way the Doctor was heading for. She threw her red shawl to the ground and made a run for the Doctor's carriage.

- _What the hell are you doing!?_ \- shouted Holly - _You're mad!_ -

Clara laughed and simply sped up, already knowing the way to stop the carriage.

She was very mad indeed.

~ 0 ~

Young Elias laid in his crib excitedly watching his moving mobile hanging above. He liked the shiny stars that swayed with each other. Minerva was coming over and watched in time to see him flapping his small hands then grabbing one of his feet to take a nibble - though the blue onesie prevented him from actually touching skin.

"Elias, feet are not for eating," Minerva scolded through a chuckle. Elias gurgled and with his hands reached for Minerva, "Oh you want to be picked up?" she raised an eyebrow.

 _'Let's finish the Christmas tree! Can we finish it? Please, Mommy!?'_ Elias responded telepathically to his mother, still overly excited despite the late hour. He seemed to be unable to fall asleep easy at times, courtesy of his father's genes. When excited - and it was often - Elias refused to sleep.

"I already told you-" Minerva reached down for him, "-not until your father returns. You said you wanted to put the star with him, right?"

Elias pouted, disappointed he was being forced to wait, ' _Daddy is slow. I want to finish it **now**_!'

Minerva chuckled and went to the other side of the room, though Elias remained watching his stethoscope on his table, the one his godfather Rory gifted him before he had been born. His mother wouldn't let him touch it until he promised not to try and eat it! But it was too tasty!

"Tell you what," began Minerva as they came into the corridors, "how about we go get the star and wait for your dad in the console room?"

Elias's response was an excited 'yes' in the mind. Minerva kept her word and went into the library room where they decided to set a Christmas tree. She and Elias had started on it when the Doctor had to go down to Earth due to a call from Vastra the Silurian who lived below in Victorian London, along with her human wife Jenny and the revived Sontaran Strix. The Doctor promised them both he would be back to finish decorating with them. Needless to say it had been hours and Elias was getting restless. Minerva repeatedly cursed the Doctor for passing on his trait of incredible impatience to their son.

Thankfully enough, just as she and Elias were coming into the console room, the Doctor was coming in from the outside.

"You're back," Minerva walked down the small steps leading down to the console.

She didn't quite approve of the new interior change the TARDIS had taken liberty of conducting. But, she supposed, it did match with the mourning phase all of them were in - the Pond's death. The once colorful shades bathing the room had been traded in for a gray shade with blue and white lights for the console. The console itself had abandoned its striking appearance to take on a more natural, robotic view. There were small Gallifreyan symbols turning above in squares. The Doctor seemed just fine with the change, but then again he hadn't been in a much of a cheerful attitude since Manhattan.

"Hey, I'm so sorry," the Doctor quickly dropped all his Victorian garbs and rushed to meet his wife and son, giving each a kiss on the head. He was fairly cheerful whenever he was them, however.

"What happened? Someone's been waiting to put the star on the Christmas tree with his father…" Minerva nodded to Elias who was busy playing with her hair.

' _Daddy's slow,_ ' Elias commented distractedly.

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor repeated while Minerva started putting Elias into his baby-walker nearby, "Vastra was being completely irritating again with human troubles. Talking about some snow!"

"Snow?" Minerva looked up in confusion, "What's wrong with the snow?"

"Telepathic field, but nothing serious," the Doctor waved off the situation. He preferred not to tell her about the barmaid he had an encounter with and the evil snowmen that nearly got them.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Minerva had no real interest in what went down in London so she dropped the subject for something far more fun, "My grandmother phoned again, she's asking if we're really coming home for Christmas."

The Doctor put on a smile for her and nodded, "Yes, I won't ruin my son's very first Christmas - not for anyone."

Minerva closed the gap between them with a hug, "Thank you," she murmured.

She knew the Doctor had no interest in returning to Earth. He preferred the isolation nowadays, and Minerva simply supported him, having faith that he would surpass the phase one day. That was why she made no arguments when he first considered the idea of leaving the adventures. The part of living on a cloud wasn't what she thought he would come up with but either way she went with it. She would head for the Monsoon nearly every day to attend to the royal business and returned to the TARDIS on the same day. She just wanted him to feel better again, and so far she didn't see much progress. She craved adventures and she wanted to start again, she just needed one thing, one simple thing that would spark the Doctor's motivation again...she just hadn't found it yet.

"No one should spend Christmas alone," the Doctor said quietly as he pulled away from Minerva.

"Well, I was also thinking that since it's our first Christmas as parents...we could celebrate on our own as well," a smirk played across Minerva's lips. She pinned him against the console with both her arms on either side of him, "Perhaps do something we haven't done in quite a while…?"

The Doctor felt his face flush with her so close to him, as well as her suggestions, "W-well, th-that could be fun…"

Minerva ran one of her fingers up to his shoulders, "Yeah?" she innocently looked at him. He nodded quickly and received a gentle kiss. It would've been longer if they hadn't felt a small hit on their knees.

 _'Star! Star! Star!_ ' little Elias was patting his parents on the knees with urgency - as much urgency a 6 month old baby could have anyways.

Minerva chuckled and stepped back from the Doctor, reminding him, "Told you that would happen if we had a kid."

"I don't regret one single thing," the Doctor responded with. Yes, it was novelty to have their moments cut short because of a baby's crying or because Elias wanted their attention for something else...but it was _so_ worth it. He loved knowing that there was a baby in the world that was half of him and half of Minerva - the ultimate being he liked to think. Elias was always going to be the ultimate embodiment of the Doctor's and Minerva's love for each other. So yes, he didn't mind when Elias happened to interrupt a moment.

But something strange brought the Doctor out of his thoughts: someone knocked on the doors.

"Were you expecting someone?" Minerva eyed the doors curiously, knowing it was no one of hers outside. She doubted, however, that Vastra was knocking as well. She never came up.

"No, were you?" countered the Doctor, also staring at the doors.

"No."

' _I'll open it!_ ' Elias quickly volunteered and did his best to turn his walker for the doors, forgetting the fact stairs were barricading the doors. He also seemed to not acknowledge that his feet could barely graze the floor.

"Stay right there young man," Minerva called as the Doctor went to see who it was.

The Doctor had opened the doors and peered outside, "Hello?" he stepped outside and looked around, never seeing Clara the barmaid hiding behind the box, "Hello?" he made a round on the TARDIS.

"What is it?" Minerva shouted from the inside, deeming it far too cold for Elias to be out yet. Though he was part Moontsay, his withstanding of cold temperatures weren't quite settled yet. At times he needed far more cold than anyone and other times he needed the opposite. Being part of a new hybrid race that hadn't been produced in centuries had its ups and downs. There was information no one knew.

The Doctor returned to the TARDIS holding Clara's red shawl. He'd seen the human running down the staircase looking frightened. Hopefully she wouldn't come by anymore.

Minerva had picked up Elias again when she saw the shawl, "Well, is there something you want to tell us?"

"It's nothing," he began.

"Nothing? That's a woman's shawl - not mine. Is there another woman out there?" she raised an eyebrow, "What do you think Elias? Daddy has a new girlfriend?"

Elias gurgled his disapproval with a big frown, making his reaction well known telepathically. ' _No! No! No! Daddy belongs to Mommy only. No girlfriend!'_

Minerva smirked with pride. The Doctor rolled his eyes as he dropped the shawl on one of the rails, "Of course I belong to Mummy," he tickled Elias's head receiving a giggle, "because why, exactly?"

Elias glanced at Minerva with his toothless grin, ' _Daddy loves Mommy!_ '

"Boy we have you trained, don't we?" Minerva chuckled and kissed his head.

The Doctor went for the Christmas star laying on the chair. "How's about we finish that tree, then?"

 _'Star! Star! Star!'_

The Doctor took Minerva by the waist and led them up the small stairs for the corridors. He wanted to leave everything behind and just decorate a tree with his family.

~ 0 ~

All was not well with Clara the barmaid - or governess - since the previous night when she met the Doctor. She just knew there was something going on with the snow and nightmares one of the children in her care was having. She remembered the Doctor talking about some telepathic field and she knew that if something wasn't done people would get hurt.

That was how she ended up in Vastra's house, facing the lizard woman for some one worded test. Apparently, she'd done good since Vastra told her to wait while she made a phone call to the very Doctor himself.

- _Try to be less nervous, will yah?_ \- Holly appeared beside her. Clara knew talking to her imaginary friend in front of a lizard, a human, and an alien would be far more suspicious. Holly knew that too which was why she didn't wait for Clara to answer, - _So you passed the test, you'll be okay_ -

Clara cleared her throat when she heard someone approaching the room. She assumed it to be Vastra and so was perplexed to find a ginger woman passing her chair.

"Good afternoon Strax," Minerva greeted and turned around to Clara, though she gave a polite greet for Jenny who stood behind Clara's chair, "Afternoon, Jenny."

"You came by fast," remarked Vastra as she entered the room, "It's only been ten minutes since I called."

"I couldn't help it," Minerva plopped down on Vastra's chair, "This is what I've been waiting for," Clara didn't know how to react to the new woman now facing her, "So you're the woman then…"

"Um…?" Clara tilted her head up to see Jenny but ended up being called upon by Holly who now appeared between her and Minerva.

- _Stop being nervous_ \- she ordered firmly, - _Francesca and Digby are in danger, remember? Remember them, just remember them._ -

For Minerva, it appeared Clara was staring at her. Assuming she wanted an explanation, Minerva began, "I am Minerva Souza, and I'm here because of your concerns with the snow."

Clara snapped back to the present and joined the conversation, "But I thought the Doctor-"

"Don't worry about him, he's on diaper duty," Minerva leaned back on her chair and smirked, "Sucker."

Holly appeared again to Clara, - _See, she's weird. You're weird too. You can work with this_.-

"Perhaps I should explain," Vastra came to stand beside Minerva's chair, "This is the Doctor's wife, and she is the one who answered my phone call."

Clara blinked at studied the ginger, "You're his wife?" she vaguely remembered the Doctor mentioning something about a wife and son...that it was just them? It was all so weird, honestly, her mind was still trying to process it all.

"See," Minerva pointed at Clara's face, "that face, if the Doctor was here he would not like that face you're making. Everyone always makes that face."

"Okay," Clara tried to keep up, "so, you're the wife, and...you're helping me?"

Minerva sat straight again then studied Clara for herself, making Clara squirm under the intense stare. After a minute, Minerva set loose a smile, "You're special."

"I am?"

"Yes, because you are the thing I have been waiting for."

Clara raised an eyebrow, "Thing?"

"My husband has entered what a human would call a 'depression' phase due to some very big losses," Minerva paused for a second, "...losses that have hurt all of us. We travel - or rather we _used_ to travel - but after the losses he's lost all motivation to keep at it. I have been searching and attempting to get him out of his phase. But, I have failed. But with what Vastra has told me I have hope that this could be the incentive, the spark of life, he needs to get him back to his old self. And you, Clara, are the key. Therefore, you're special - to me."

Clara was left blinking rather rapidly. She could understand nearly everything and perhaps this special thing could work to an advantage to help the children.

"Will you help me get my husband back, Clara?" Minerva asked softly, "He's not just a husband you know, he's a father too. And my son deserves his true father - not the one who hides behind fake smiles."

- _I say help the poor woman_ \- Holly sat down on the armrest of Clara's chair, - _It'd be a win win for all_ -

Holly was right, and so Clara gave a firm nod to Minerva, "Of course I'll help."

Minerva grinned and rose to her feet, "Well then, shall we get started with the investigation?"

Vastra took that as an opportunity to make a suggestion, "Strax has already suggested where to start investigating."

Minerva glanced over her shoulder, "And that would be?"

"Dr. Simeon's building," the Sontaran answered.

"Great, I shall get him on it. You can all leave," Minerva faced Clara again, "And you, Clara, you're fairly calm about all this. A lizard," she gestured to Vastra, "a potato-like alien? Not the least bit scared?"

Clara cleared her throat as she stood up, "Well, to be frank, I'm more curious."

Minerva's smile widened, "I'm a fan of curiosity. That's actually how my husband and I met."

"And, when you say that, I assume you mean on another world?" Clara made a face, hoping she wasn't intruding, "Like...not here?"

"Yes," Minerva agreed, "Well yes and no but that's another long story."

"But you're American," she pointed, "and the Doctor sounds English. How does that happen?"

Minerva shrugged, "Regeneration is a lottery. Another story," she waved off when Clara made another face, "Right now all I care is that today might be the day things go back to normal."

While Clara didn't really understand just how she was suppose to be helping, she gave a nod of agreement and followed the ginger American out.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was having a genuine fun time posing as Sherlock Holmes in an office of a man he could care less about. He was only there because Minerva basically pleaded him to be there, and what his Clever Girl wanted she got. The Sherlock Holmes wasn't his idea though, no...it was someone else's...and he was having as much fun as his father.

 _'I wanna touch the big globey thing!_ ' Elias insisted and currently tried pushing himself towards said large globe set across the room, even though he was in the arms of the Doctor, ' _C'mon, daddy! Globe!_ '

"Hush," the Doctor kissed his head and turned to Dr. Simeon waiting behind them, "So, as I was saying, there's no bit of a tree? Bit of a wife? Some apples? Come on, work with me here."

Simeon had no patience for the strange man and openly displayed it, "I enjoy The Strand magazine as much as the next man but I am perfectly aware that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character - who does _not_ have a son!" he shouted, "Get out!"

"Ooh, see, I also have a wife and she's not going to be too happy you just yelled at her baby," the Doctor gently bounced Elias who was already trying to form his own small glare at the man, "but let's try to move onto business while she gets here," he moved along the desk and snatched up a business card, "Ooh! I see this is one of your business cards," he waved it at Simeon, "it says so on the front!"

"I did not send you here to look at business cards," scolded Minerva. She stood at the back door with hands on hips and her matching scolding face, "...you did _not_ dress my baby up as Sherlock Holmes."

Elias gurgled in happiness and flapped his hands, ' _It was my idea, Mommy!'_

"You read him the stories," the Doctor reminded Minerva with a pointed look that agreed it was her own fault.

Simeon had enough of strange people entering his office, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"You left the door unlocked," Minerva pointed at the door she'd come in through, "and we're here for what? The business cards?" she snatched the card the Doctor held and threw it back, "What do you think, moron? We're here because of the gigantic globe you got here!" she frantically gestured to the snow globe on a raised platform in the office.

The Doctor looked down at Elias with a wide grin, "Shall we finally got and touch it?" Elias's response was to once again push himself to the globe in his father's arms.

"Doctor," began Minerva when she saw him heading for the globe, "don't-"

The Doctor let Elias pat the globe with his small hands and laughed, "Wakey, wakey!"

' _Wakey, wakey!_ ' repeated Elias while squealing out loud as his hands hit the glass. ' _Is it his bedtime?'_

Simeon went for the two in anger, "That is highly valuable equipment," but Minerva blocked his way to them, "they must step away now."

"You don't touch my husband nor son," she warned and pushed him back.

"We are the Intelligence," the snow globe spoke up.

Instantly, Elias stopped patting the globe and the Doctor stepped back, "Oh! Talking snow," he blinked, "I love new things." Minerva turned around to see the globe, but ended smiling at the comment made. That sounded a lot more like her old Martian.

"You are not of this world," the Intelligence said.

"Takes one to _snow_ one!" the Doctor joked and waited for someone to laugh. Elias was busy playing with his watch and uninterested in anything else. The globe had become boring to him now.

Minerva cleared her throat and hurried up to the globe, "Right, let's see. A multi-nucleate, crystalline organism with the ability to mimic and mirror what it finds. Looks like snow. Isn't snow."

"You must leave here now!" Simeon shouted.

"Shut up, my wife's being clever," the Doctor waved a hand back at Simeon while watching Minerva with intent.

Minerva smiled at him, "Why thank you, Martian. What are you, then, snow globe? A flock of space crystals? A swarm?"

Simeon silently stepped backwards to a panel on the wall and rang a bell for help.

"Clara mentioned the snowmen attacking you both," Minerva she sharply looked at the Doctor for that one, "ever going to tell me about that, dear?"

The Doctor looked around innocently, "Well...perhaps…"

"Don't lie in front of our son."

The Doctor hung his head and sighed, "No, I was not."

' _Uh oh_ ' Elias covered his eyes. Whenever his parents seemed to be getting to a disagreement, he took to covering his eyes pretending he wasn't there anymore. They couldn't see him!

"Excuse me," Minerva flung a wave of snow at the doors and blocked the entrance to the employees coming to 'help' Simeon, "don't you know it's rude to throw people out of places," she glared at Simeon, "Don't let it happen again," she then focused on the globe, "What do you think, dear? The snowmen are foot soldiers, mindless predators?"

The Doctor stepped up beside her and agreed, "But this," he pointed at the globe, "is the clever one. You're Moriarty. So you turn up on a planet, you generate a telepathic field to learn what you can, and when you've learnt enough, what do you do? You can't conquer the world using snowmen. Snowmen are rubbish in July. You'll have to be better than that. You'll have to evolve."

Minerva hid a smile as the Doctor went on a ramble of his while trying to make his deductions. This was what she was waiting for and couldn't wait to see it all come back in a bang.

"You need to translate yourself into something more, well, human!" the Doctor exclaimed, "To do that you'd need a perfect duplicate of human DNA in ice form - where do you find that?"

"We go to the files!" Minerva pointed at the desk before running over, "Let's see," she started chucking files behind her, "...most viewed page. You really should delete your history - aha!" she picked up a newspaper and turned to the Doctor, pointing to its headline, " "Governess frozen in pond." Gotcha!"

"We make a fantastic team," the Doctor said in a dazed manner. He'd almost forgotten what that was like, being a team in their adventures.

"Sir!?" they began hearing on the other side of the blocked door.

The Doctor took Minerva by the hand and led them out of the office through the other door. As soon as they were at a safe spot away from the office, the Doctor pulled his wife to him and landed a big kiss on her lips.

Frankly disgusted, Elias babbled in what one could say was irritation, ' _Eugh! Eugh! Bad!_ ' he went in their minds.

The two adults pulled from each other with dazed smiles. Minerva bit her lip sheepishly, "What was that for?"

"That…" he pointed at the building behind them, "...that was rather fun."

"Yeah?" Minerva loved hearing that; it meant her plan was working!

"Absolutely," the Doctor kissed her once again then placed at kiss on Elias's head, "and now there's a new team member."

"Only the cutest," Minerva tickled her son's stomach, earning a giggle back.

The parents looked at each other with wide grind before they rushed off. After getting changed back into their regular Victorian clothing, the trio relocated to the frozen pond in the backyard of Clara's work house.

The Doctor was balancing himself along the border of their pond while Minerva stood on the ground, struggling to calm a fussy Elias in her arms. It was slightly past his bedtime and even though he wanted to help with the 'bad snow' his eyes were languidly blinking for sleep. Minerva wanted to rock him to sleep then send him to Vastra - Elias respectively disagreed with his mother's plan.

"Please, El, just take a nap," Minerva pleaded him, "You're tired-"

"Body frozen in a pond, the snow gets a good long look at a human being, like a full body scan," the Doctor's examination of the pond broke through Minerva's pleads, "Everything they need to evolve. Pond. Good point, Clara."

Minerva glared at him, "Thank you for that. Now I definitely won't be able to get him to sleep!" she gestured the squirming Elias.

The Doctor rubbed the side of his neck and turned away from his mess. At the same time, Strax approached the trio, "Madame Vastra wondered if you were needing any grenades?"

"Strax," Minerva said in her scolding tone, "can we please not talk about weapons in front of the 6 month baby?"

Strax seemed sorry but never apologized due to the Doctor cutting him off with a question, "Help for what?"

"Well, your investigation."

"Investigation? Who says I'm investigating?" the Doctor turned to the Sontaran in irritation.

"I am," Minerva spoke up, "and are you telling me that I'm wrong?" she challenged him to say it.

"W-well…well...I, um, it was, uh-"

"That's what I thought," Minerva nodded and smirked. She headed up to Strax, "Now I thank you for your help, Strax but we're okay at the moment. Can you please just take Elias back to Vastra's?" she handed him Elias and kissed the baby's head, "And possibly call for Zohar to pick him up? I'd really rather not have him around for what ever comes next."

 _'No, Mommy! No!'_ Elias squirmed as he was passed on to Strax, ' _I want to stay!_ '

"Off you pop!" Minerva tickled his stomach but received small cries, "Thank you, Strax!" she waved them goodbye before getting on the border of the pond in front of the Doctor, "So, what's next in our investigation?"

The Doctor sighed and turned to the side, "I'm not investigating, Clever Girl."

Minerva smirked and clapped her hands together, placing them in front of her, "Well, you have the sonic out, you've got your thinking face on, you have your sassy American with you," she stepped closer to him and fixed his Victorian jacket for him, "and the occasional encouraging kisses," she pressed her lips to his for a good kiss, "Looks, sounds and feels like an investigation to me," she whispered afterwards, purposely brushing lips with his.

"Sometimes you abuse me too much," the Doctor sighed quietly, reaching to take her hands off him. He placed kisses on both of them then gripped them, "Because I love you, you take advantage."

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "I'm just trying to show you what you miss and love."

"Everything I love is in you and Elias, nothing else."

At that moment, Clara opened up curtains from the second floor and grabbed their attention. She waved at them with a relieved smile then motioned for them to come up.

The Doctor turned to Minerva, already shaking his head in an outright refusal, "We have to tell her we're leaving, we're not going up. Leaving, not going up."

Minerva crossed her arms and nodded for him to tell her himself, "Fine."

The Doctor seemed determined to do so...but when he turned to Clara, something else happened. His hand went up signaling they'd be there in five minutes. Minerva started laughing as he slowly lowered his hand with a glare on it, "What was that all about?"

Minerva took his hand and interlaced their fingers, "Looks like the investigation is a go!" she kissed his cheek and dragged him for the house. The moment they'd snuck inside they came across a frozen replica of the previous governess of the children. It went to attack Clara and the children and chased them into the playroom where thankfully Minerva and the Doctor were able to take care of it - using a rather funny Punch puppet for show. The frozen governess had been melted over a rug and was the pinpoint location to examine the remains.

As the Doctor was knelt down to sonic the rug, Clara kept the children back but one, Francesca, was curious, "Where did she go? Will she come back?"

Minerva softly smiled as she glanced back at them, "No, don't worry. She's currently draining through your carpet."

The Doctor stood up with a pretty proud face, "New setting, anti-freeze," he waved the sonic, "and you're very welcome, by the way," he said to Clara.

"I'm very grateful," Clara assured, "I knew you'd come."

Before Minerva could open her mouth, the Doctor entered a tangent, "No, you didn't, because I don't," he walked away from the group and took off his scarf, Because this isn't the sort of thing I do any more. Next time you're in trouble, don't use my wife to persuade me to…"

Minerva smiled when the Doctor started fiddling with his bowtie in front of a small wall mirror.

Clara did not understand his sudden pause, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Sorry, it's just... Didn't know I'd put it on," the Doctor admitted, "Old habits…"

Minerva went up to him and fixed the crooked bowtie for him, "It's an old habit that should never die, just like helping people," the Doctor looked at her wanting to tell her those days were over but at the sight of those amber eyes of hers he flailed.

Clara felt a chill up her spine and looked around. Holly appeared across the room looking quite cold herself, - _It's a bit chilly, don't you think?_ \- she asked Clara.

Clara agreed and proceeded to ask the question herself to the aliens, "It's a bit chilly, don't you think?"

Minerva started to feel the chill, "I think the room is getting colder...but that can't be right."

Francesca was the first to see the rug rising with something underneath it, "She's coming back! What's she going to do? Is she going to punish me?"

The Doctor tried using the sonic again, "Uh... uh…" but it wasn't working anymore, "She's learnt not to melt. Of course, she's not really a governess, she's just a beast. She's going to eat you."

- _So run!_ \- Holly shouted to Clara who quickly followed the orders.

Clara took each of the children's hands and dashed out with Minerva and the Doctor behind. They came rushing down the stairs to be blocked off by the children's father, Captain Latimer.

"Children, what is exp... Who the devil are you?! What are you doing in my house?"

"Oh don't worry," Minerva waved off the man, "We're friends of your governess! We were wondering if she could come work for us!"

The maid of the house, Alice, came into the area, "Captain Latimer, in the garden, there's snowmen! And they're just growing, out of nowhere, all by themselves - look!" she went to the front door to prove her words but ended up coming face to face with Vastra and Jenny.

"Good evening, I'm a lizard woman from the dawn of time and this is my wife!" the Silurian introduced.

Alice screamed and ran away from the door. Strax was just coming in and bumped into her, "This dwelling is under attack! Remain calm, human scum!"

And it was lights out for Alice.

"That poor woman," Minerva blinked then came down the remaining steps to meet their friends, "Vastra, where is my son?"

"Off to the Monsoon," the Silurian assured.

"Well how about you tell us what's going on?" the Doctor moved her and Minerva to a window away from the others, Jenny and Strax following as well.

"The snow is highly localized, and on this occasion not naturally occurring."

"It's coming out of that cab parked by the gates," Jenny added.

"Sir, one pulver grenade would blow these snowmen to smithereens," offered Strax.

"They're made of snow, Strax," the Doctor tugged on Strax's ear, "they're already smithereens. See, Clara - our friends again."

Latimer quickly looked at the alien group, "Clara? Who's Clara?"

"Your current governess is in reality a former barmaid called Clara."

The frozen governess had begun nearing the top of the staircase, "That's the way to do it."

"Meanwhile, your previous governess is now a living ice sculpture impersonating Mr. Punch."

Minerva glanced at Jennny with hopefulness, "Jenny, what have you got?"

Jenny smirked and threw a grenade to the staircase. The frozen governess was blocked off by a force field.

"Ooh, I like," Minerva approved.

Strax had taken liberty of finding a room to take shelter in, "Sir, ma'am, this room – one observational window on the line of attack and one defendable entrance."

"Right, everyone in there now," the Doctor ordered the humans.

Minerva went up to the passed out maid on the floor and looked at Latimer, "Em, you may want to carry her in," she apologetically smiled.

After the humans had left, the Doctor used his sonic on the frozen governess. Vastra couldn't help making the comment of, "Nice to see you off your cloud and engaging again."

"I'm not engaging again, we're under attack."

"Yeah but you missed this," Minerva moved beside him, "don't deny it."

The Doctor grumbled but didn't respond to her words. He ordered Vastra to leave as well then turned to Strax, "Strax, how long have we got?" he took Minerva's hand and headed for the study room.

"They're not going to attack," Strax began and followed, "They made no attempt to conceal their arrival. An attack force would never abandon surprise so easily - and they're clearly in a defence formation."

"Well done, Straxie, still got it!" he rubbed the top of Strax's head and kissed it.

"Sir, please do not noogie me during combat prep."

Minerva rolled her eyes at the two near children aliens, "So clearly there is something here they want."

Holly was beside Clara when she stood up, both realizing, "The Ice Woman."

"Exactly."

"Why's she so important?" Jenny made a face, the thought of ice being a danger just plain ridiculous to her.

"Because she's a perfect duplication of human DNA in ice crystal form," the Doctor began making the connections, "The ultimate fusion of snow and humanity. To live here, the snow needs to evolve - and she's the blueprint. She's what they need to become," he snapped a finger and looked at Clara, "When the snow melted last night, did the pond?"

Clara looked after Holly, both agreeing, "No," she said.

"Living ice that will never melt. If the snow gets hold of that creature on the stairs, it will learn to make more of them. It will build an army of ice. And it will be the last day of humanity on this planet."

Someone rang the doorbell and it was pretty obvious to Minerva and the Doctor who it would be.

"Stay here," the Doctor pointed at the others and took Minerva with him.

- _Are you staying there?_ \- Holly was already at the threshold waiting for Clara.

The brunette smiled, "Nope," and she ran to catch up.

"Excuse you, I believe you were told to stay in there," Minerva had stopped walking with the Doctor to turn to Clara.

"Oh, I didn't listen."

"Clearly," Minerva looked up at the Doctor with a sigh, "Do they ever listen?"

" _You_ didn't," he scoffed lightly, recalling her early human days in the TARDIS.

"Yes I did!"

"Uh, no, you didn't," the Doctor tapped her nose with a bright smile.

"Doctor!" Minerva frowned but the Doctor fixed his bowtie and went for the doors.

"Does he do that a lot?" Clara tilted her head.

"Get married, Clara. It's such a joy," Minerva grumbled and went after the Doctor.

Simeon had been knocking and was backed up by several snowmen, "Release her to us. You have five minutes."

The Doctor slammed the door and turned around, "We need to get her out of here - but keep her away from them."

"How?" Clara stared up at the frozen governess while the Doctor went to a stand by the staircase.

"With this," he pulled out an umbrella, "Do I always have to state the obvious?"

Minerva hid a smile when she realized what the umbrella meant. Latimer came out of the study looking panicked, "Those creatures outside, what are they?"

Minerva answered him, "They are no danger to you, as long as we get that thing out of here!" she nodded to the frozen governess, "Best you stay in with your children. Go now!" after Latimer left, she climbed the stairs and stopped beside the Doctor, "Whatever you're going to do, do it now."

"What exactly _are_ you going to do?" asked Clara while she watched the Doctor fiddling with his sonic, slowly moving up the stairs.

"Between you and us, I can't wait to find out," the Doctor shrugged and activated his sonic. The force field was extended a couple steps behind them, "Right, if you look after everyone here, then I can…"

"Dammit Clara!" Minerva cried when she saw Clara had trespassed without telling them, "Someone should put a bell on you."

- _Well that wasn't nice_ \- Holly remarked beside Clara.

"That wasn't nice," Clara agreed.

"Focus!" the Doctor exclaimed as he took both women's hands and dragged them around the frozen governess who was trying to attack them, "But that was stupid, Clara!" he accused afterwards.

Clara rolled her eyes, "You were stupid, too!"

"I'm allowed, I'm good at stupid!"

Minerva scoffed, "That's a comeback!"

"That's the way to do it!" the frozen governess chased them down the hall.

"Why does she keep saying that?" Clara wondered as she stopped by the landing and glanced back.

"Mirroring, random mirroring," the Doctor swung the umbrella at the frozen governess, "We need to get on the roof."

"This way!" Clara took both aliens' hands and led the way.

She successfully led them to a window that gave full access to the roof. The Doctor climbed out first then turned to help the women, "Come on, quickly!"

"Help me, Martian!" Minerva reached out for him and was able to climb out with his help.

Clara went next but found she was stuck, "Agh!"

"What are you doing?" the Doctor frowned at her, fairly irritated she was holding them back.

"My bustle is stuck!"

- _Clara! C'mon!_ \- Holly appeared behind Clara, inside the hallway, - _Push!_ -

Clara budged and budged on her own but eventually had the help of the two aliens on the roof. She dropped flat on her stomach with a loud groan.

Minerva winced as if she'd felt the woman's pain, "Victorian clothing is such a drag," she offered a hand to Clara.

"What's the plan?" Clara wearily asked as she stood up.

"Who said we've got a plan?" the Doctor challenged.

Clara raised an eyebrow, Holly now beside her - _He's playing you_ \- she warned.

"I'm no idiot," Clara narrowed her eyes at the Doctor, "You've got a plan - you took _this_!" she lifted the umbrella off the ground.

"Maybe I'm an idiot."

"Which you are," remarked Minerva.

"You're clever. Really clever," Clara pointed.

"Which is also true," Minerva agreed.

"Are _you_?" the Doctor smirked at Clara, "If I've got a plan, what is it? You tell me."

The frozen governess appeared at the window and tried reaching out, "That's the way to do it!"

"Is this a test?" Clara frowned.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded.

"What will it do to us?" she glanced at the governess.

"Kill us."

"That's the way to do it!" the frozen governess turned into snow and began blowing through the window to re-appear itself on the roof.

Clara panicked and looked at the Minerva who seemed awfully calm, "Are you going to let him do this!?"

Minerva shrugged, "I'm fairly curious how this is going to turn out."

"Idiots, both of you," Clara pointed between Minerva and the Doctor, "But you're lucky I'm smart, cos I knew straight away," she tossed the umbrella to the Doctor.

"No, you didn't," the Doctor tossed the umbrella back.

- _He's doubting you_ \- Holly called from her seat on the edge of the roof - _Don't let him_ -

Clara nodded with a smirk, "If we'd been escaping, we'd be climbing down the building. If we'd been hiding, we'd be on the other side of the roof. But we're standing right here."

"So?" the Doctor shrugged.

"So!" Clara exclaimed and used the umbrella to reach up and pull down the TARDIS ladder, "After you."

"Yeah, I like you," Minerva nodded. Clara beamed in response, "Now dear, please go up first," she told the Doctor, "I'm wearing a dress and so is Clara."

The Doctor turned to Minerva with a wide grin, "Well-"

" _Up_ ," Minerva cut him off and pointed for him to get going, "Eyes front, soldier!"

Clara snickered as the Doctor was forced to climb first, "My eyes are always front!" he muttered.

Minerva scoffed, "Right, and you know how to pilot too."

"Minerva!"

"Doctor!"

Minerva wore her smirk all the way up to the landing of the staircase base. Clara came up a couple seconds later, "So you can move your cloud? You can control it."

"No, no-one can control clouds, that would be silly," Minerva shook her head.

"The wind, a little bit," the Doctor added.

Clara flinched when the ladder started shaking. She peered below and saw the governess coming up for them, "She's following us!"

"Sort of the idea, sorry to tell you," Minerva patted her arm and started the stairs with the Doctor, "We have to keep her away from the snow."

"So, barmaid or governess, which is it?" the Doctor suddenly asked if it were a casual moment.

"That thing is after us, and you want a chat?"

"Well I like to know who my wife's friends are," he argued.

Minerva rolled her eyes, "He just wants to make sure you don't have a thing for me."

Clara laughed, "Rest assure I don't swing that way," she stopped in surprise when her feet touched the cloud and the blue box stood feet away, "How did we get up so high so quick?"

"Clever staircase, it's taller on the inside!" the Doctor exclaimed and used his sonic on the staircase.

Clara cautiously tapped a foot on the cloud, "What am I standing on, what's this made of?"

"Super-dense water vapor. Should keep her trapped, for the moment."

Clara followed the two aliens towards the box and had to say, "So you actually live up here? On a cloud, in a box?"

"We have done, for a long time."

"Blimey, you really know how to sulk."

"I'm not sulking!"

"Oh so I suppose your wife just decided you two were living on a cloud for the heck of it?"

"We have a son too," Minerva reminded, "We all live up here."

"But we do not sulk!" the Doctor pointed at Clara.

"You made your family live in a box on a cloud," Clara put her hands on her hips, "If that's not sulking I don't know what is."

The Doctor had enough and headed for the TARDIS, "That's no more a box than you are a governess."

"Oh, spoken like a man! You're the same as all the rest," Clara put on a mocking tone as she followed, "Sweet little Clara, works at the Rose and Crown, ideas above her station!"

Minerva saw Clara was heading straight in for the TARDIS and tried to stop her for she knew how much of an impression the interior could make, "Uh, Clara, maybe you want to stop-"

But Clara was on a tangent and no one would stop her, "For your information, I'm not sweet on the inside, and I'm certainly not... little," she barely managed to squeak the last word out when she saw the completely larger inside.

The Doctor stood by the console with a big smirk. He flicked the light switches which also activated the rotation above the console, "It's called the TARDIS. It can travel anywhere in time and space. And it's ours."

Minerva came down the stairs with a small sigh, "You are such a show off."

The Doctor awaited her with arms open and a kiss on the hair, "And you like it."

Clara was barely managing not to fall back on her feet, "But it's... Look at it, it's…"

Holly was standing beside her and in the same awed manner Clara was in - _What the hell is this thing?_ -

The Doctor was having fun and Minerva knew it, "Go on, say it, most people do."

Clara ran outside to check the dimensions of the box. Minerva giggled and leaned on the Doctor, "Show off!"

"You like it!"

She lifted her head to meet his gaze, "Right, guess you know why I fell in love with you: You showed off your TARDIS to me."

"I knew it," the Doctor mocked a scoff, "And here I thought I had been charming to you."

"What are you talking about? You were a complete nervous wreck!" Minerva chuckled, missing the Doctor's frown, "After I kissed you you could barely say a word."

"I was…" the Doctor began but Clara came running back inside.

"It's smaller on the outside!" she blurted.

The Doctor was left confused while Minerva burst out laughing, "That's one I thought I'd never hear!" she leaned on the Doctor before she fell over.

Clara sheepishly smiled as she went around the console studying the difference controls, "Is it magic? Is it a machine?"

"It's a ship," the Doctor corrected.

Clara took the steps and stopped midway, "A ship?"

"Best ship in the universe!"

- _Is there a place to cook?_ \- Holly sat on the rails of the stairs.

Clara beamed and returned to the pair, "Is there a kitchen?"

"Another first," the Doctor looked down to Minerva who agreed with a nod.

Clara rolled her eyes as she stood in front of the console, letting her hands brush over the controls, "I don't know why I asked that, it's just... I like making soufflés."

- _And they're scrumptious!_ \- added Holly, nearly making Clara laugh.

That had the two aliens looking at Clara, "Soufflés?!" Minerva asked, something about the word putting her on edge.

Clara took a round on the console then stopped in front of the stairs, "Why are you showing me all this?"

"You followed us, remember - we didn't invite you," the Doctor casually shrugged and glanced at the controls.

Minerva couldn't help her smirk as she moved to stand where Clara was, "Martian, you took the umbrella…" he stopped and looked at her, "...we're nearly a foot taller than her and you know it," she accused in a soft voice, the struggle to contain her joy barely one she could battle with, "We could've reached the ladder without the umbrella - but you picked it up for Clara. And you know why."

"You cheater, you planned this," the Doctor pointed at his wife with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I saw an opportunity and I took it," Minerva swung an arm around Clara, "and Clara was more than willing to help. Thank you," she said to the brunette.

The Doctor smiled at Minerva with fondness, his hand instinctively reaching into his pockets, "I love you so much," he went up to them and planted a kiss on Minerva's head.

"And I love you," she hugged him tightly.

She then moved to the side but kept an arm around him as did he. He held out the TARDIS key to Clara, "Thank you. It's been very long since I did this, but I'm fairly certain you're the next one."

- _But it's just a key_ \- Holly was staring at the key in confusion - _I don't get it. Do you, Clara?_ -

Clara raised an eyebrow at the silver key, "What's this?"

"Me, giving my Clever Girl what she wants - what _I_ want as well," the Doctor tightened his hold around Minerva.

Clara started blinking rapidly with the sudden feeling of crying, "I don't know why I'm crying…"

"But we do," Minerva smiled, "Remember this - this right now, remember all of it. Because this is the day things go back to normal - thanks to you."

- _Nice one_ \- Holly was beside Clara, - _She owes you big time for this_ \- Clara waited for Minerva and the Doctor to turn away so she could nudge Holly. Holly sniggered at the impatience Clara had but suddenly her voice went stale - _Clara, watch out!_ -

Clara barely had time to look over her shoulder when she felt cold arms wrap around her waist and pull her back, "Ah!"

"Clara!" both Minerva and the Doctor cried when they saw their new friend being pulled out of the TARDIS.

"Get off of me!" Clara tried pushing the hands off her.

The Doctor was aiming the sonic at the frozen governess in a vale attempt to get Clara back, "Water vapor doesn't stop ice, I should've realized!"

Minerva was frantically trying to use her powers but was having the same vain results as the Doctor, "Snow with ice? Not good!"

"Let her go. Let her go now!" the Doctor yelled at the frozen governess, "NOW!"

"Get off of me!" Clara was busy yelling as well.

Holly appeared just at the edge of the cloud, failing to do anything herself - _Clara! I'm sorry!-_

Clara was able to give her a small smile just before she was brought over the edge of the cloud.

"Clara!" Minerva and the Doctor (and unbeknownst to them, Holly as well) cried and ran to see the human governess falling and falling.

~ 0 ~

It was a sad Christmas Eve for the group. Clara was near dead and was only being sustained for a small while by one of Strax's life support machines inside the living room of the family she worked with. Minerva and the Doctor preferred staying inside the TARDIS in the meantime they worked on the frozen chunks of the governess they managed to acquire.

It was only when Vastra made an entrance into the blue box did conversation happen, "Isn't the creature still a danger? It could reform."

"No, not in here," the Doctor replied emotionless.

"Then you should be with Miss Clara."

"She's going to be fine, I know she is, she has to be."

Vastra was not one to feed false hope, "Her injuries are severe. That equipment will bring back anyone for a while, but long term…"

Minerva bit her lip hard to prevent a sniffle from coming out, but it was apparent in her tone, "This was all my fault. I am responsible for what happened to Clara. I brought her into this."

"What is the point of blaming yourself?"

"Because this time I am truly responsible for a person's death."

"No," the Doctor was not about to let Minerva walk down that path again.

"Yes it is," Minerva nodded, so sure of it.

"Absolutely not," he settled his hands over her shoulders, leveling to her eyes, "And you know what? It doesn't even matter this time because she's going to live," he kissed Minerva's forehead then grabbed her hand to lead her out of the TARDIS.

Upon entering the living room they went straight for Clara at the table. As if feeling their presence, Clara opened her eyes, flashing a weak smile at them.

"Hi," Minerva whispered.

"Hello," Clara said back, "They all think I'm going to die, don't they?"

"And we know you're going to live," the Doctor declared.

"How?"

The Doctor reached for the TARDIS key in his pocket, "You know, I never know how but I just know who," he gently placed the key in her palm.

Clara had to smile at that. She looked around the area slowly, hoping to see her secret friend no one knew about. For a second, she saw Holly but even she didn't look too good, "The green lady…" she returned her focus to the alien pair, "...she said you were the savers of worlds once. Are you going to save this one?"

Minerva chuckled lightly, "If I do, will you come away with us?"

"Yes."

"Well then. Merry Christmas."

And with that, the couple headed back to begin with their deal. It didn't take much to get Simeon away from the house - a simple false deal was it. Simeon charged back for his office to meet with Minerva and the Doctor.

"You promised us something. Have you brought it?" Simeon got straight to the point upon entering his office.

"Big fella here's been very quiet while you've been out - which is only to be expected considering who he really is," the Doctor neared the globe and waved the box that contained the remains of the frozen governess, "Know what this is, big fella?"

"I do not understand these markings," the Intelligence answered the question.

"A map of the London Underground, 1967 - key strategic weakness in metropolitan living, if you ask me, but then I have never liked a tunnel…"

"Enough of this," the Intelligence snapped, "We are powerful, but on this planet we are limited. We need to learn to take human form. The Governess is our most perfect replication of humanity…"

Minerva rolled her eyes and revealed she held the Doctor's sonic screwdriver behind her back, "Blah, blah, blah, how's about you take the big scary voice down?" with the sonic the voice of the Intelligence went that of an older man to a child.

"No, stop! Stop that! Cease, I command you!"

Minerva had a bright smile on her face while she kept the sonic going, "Mm, sorry, I'm the Queen and I don't take orders from anyone - especially from a child's mirror."

Simeon had stumbled against his desk as if he felt a drain of energy.

"Don't listen to her, she's ruining everything!" the Intelligence said to Simeon.

The Doctor took a step towards Simeon, "How long has the Intelligence been talking to you?"

Simeon's eyes drifted to the side as he thought, "I was a little boy. He was my snowman... He spoke to me."

"The snow was just reflecting everything you felt," Minerva explained, feeling genuine pity for the man, "You poured your darkest dreams into a snowman - and that is what it became!" she pointed at the snow globe.

The Doctor returned to the globe and narrowed his eyes at them, "A parasite feeding on the loneliness of a child and the sickness of an old man. Carnivorous snow meets Victorian values... and something terrible is born."

"We can go on! And do everything we planned," the Intelligence assured in its high pitched voice.

"Oh, yes, and what a plan! A world full of living ice people. Oh, dear me, how very Victorian of you."

"Now you see why the hell I want to get out of here?" Minerva asked the Doctor, hand on hip, "Elias is _not_ growing up with all these Victorian values."

"What's wrong with Victorian values?" Simeon lunged at the Doctor in an attempt to get the important box from him.

The Doctor managed to dodge him and stood straight, "Are you sure?" he asked Simeon.

"I have always been sure!" Simeon took the box and opened it up, immediately receiving a bite from the memory worm. He groaned kneeled over.

The Doctor watched him with cold eyes, "Good," he bent down in front of him, "I'm glad you think so, since your entire adult life is about to be erased. No parasite without a host, without you, it will have no voice, without the governess, it will have no form."

"What... What's happening, what's happening, what did you do?" the Intelligence started failing.

The Doctor stood up and turned to the globe, "You've got nothing left to mirror any more. Goodbye."

"What did you... Did you... Did you…?" the energy started fading but then everything returned with maximum power, "Did you really think it would be so easy?"

"That's not possible. How is that possible?" the Doctor blinked with wide eyes.

Minerva looked around and saw something strange at the windows, "Doctor!" she gawked at the rising snow levels outside, "The snow, it's growing!"

The Doctor turned for the globe, still confused, "But you were just Dr Simeon. You're not real, he dreamed you, how can you still exist?"

"Now the dream outlives the dreamer and can never die. Once I was the puppet. Now I pull the strings!"

Minerva turned in time to see Simeon rising like a puppet with electricity in his hands, "Doctor…"

The Intelligence now spoke through Simeon as a true puppet, "I have tried so long to take on human form. By erasing Simeon, you made space for me. I fill him now."

Minerva frowned at the man's dead blue color of skin, "He's frozen…"

Simeon went for the Doctor and managed to catch him by the throat, "More than snow, more than Simeon - even this old body is strong in my control," the Doctor groaned upon feeling the city touch of Simeon on his face, steam even rising, "Do you feel it?"

Minerva angrily flung snow and slammed Simeon to the floor across them, "Did you feel that!?" she mocked his tone and ran for the Doctor, "I know I'm not entirely warm…" she apologized to the Doctor for her biology and cradled his head. The Doctor smiled nonetheless when her hands touched his cheeks, clearly comforted.

Simeon had begun to rise again, "Winter will come! Winter will come!"

Minerva looked up with a crossed expression, "Oh shut up, you've already-" her insult was interrupted by a splash of water coming from the snow globe, "What…?" she frowned. Attention was further taken by the cries of Simeon who dropped to the floor.

"What's happening?" the Intelligence cried out.

The Doctor, with the help of Minerva, moved to Simeon's and found the man was now completely dead. Minerva then refocused on the globe which was near water now, "The snow's melting into water now…"

"The snow mirrors, that's all it does," the Doctor recited from memory, "It's mirroring something else now. Something so strong, it's drowning everything else," feeling stronger, he picked himself up and ran for the window. Minerva, confused, followed slowly, "There was a critical mass of snow at the house," the Doctor stuck out his hand and wet it, "If something happened there…"

Minerva, while hesitant, did the same and tasted the water on her palm, "This is salt water," she made a face and glanced at the Doctor, "Rain water isn't salty."

"It's _tears_ ," the Doctor quietly realized, "The only force on Earth that could drown the snow, a whole family crying on Christmas Eve…"

~ 0 ~

Clara had mere minutes of life left when Minerva and the Doctor returned. Still, she greeted them with clear open eyes and a small smile.

"We did it, Clara," Minerva began in a low whisper, "We saved the world. You and us."

"You have to come with us now, remember?" the Doctor added without much hope, "You've got things to see. And hey, you haven't met our son, he'd like you."

Clara's smile grew slightly, and her response was something interesting, "Will you go back... to your cloud?"

"No more cloud. Not now. Minerva and I agreed Victorian values were something we didn't want our son to learn."

Clara's eyes drifted to the side in thought. In all this time she had not seen Holly. She dared to think her mind was just tired and could no longer portray the image of her imaginary friend. "I had an imaginary friend you know..." she said quietly, "...but she's gone. She hasn't come back...and I don't want to be alone - I've never been without her. I don't know how to be alone."

The two aliens took her words without much focus, thinking it of irrelevant rambling. It was just her final words as her mind began slipping away. They just let her continue.

Clara closed her eyes, her breathing slowing down, "I want to go where she is. Run you clever girl and boy. And remember."

Church bells rang just when she died. Jenny sadly mumbled, "It's Christmas. Christmas Day," Before it all went quiet.

~ 0 ~

Minerva, now holding Elias in her arms, and the Doctor waited for the humans to leave Clara's freshly dug grave before visiting her. They wouldn't exactly be any useful visitors so they preferred keeping their distance. Vastra, Jenny and Strax accompanied them up the graveyard.

Then they saw the name.

The Doctor breathed in deeply, "We never knew her name, her full name."

"Clara Oswin Oswald," Minerva blinked, her mind giving flashes of the Soufflé Girl from the Starship Alaska in the Dalek asylum.

"Souffle girl…" the Doctor had also thought, "Oswin - it was her. It was Soufflé Girl again."

Minerva looked at him in the same incredulous manner he had, "We never saw her face the first time with the Daleks, but her voice, it was the same voice. How did we not see that!?"

' _Mommy, daddy, why are you saying confusing things?_ ' Elias's amber eyes were flickering from his mother to his father.

But the trance was too deep to get out from.

"The same woman, twice, and she died both times, the _same_ woman!" the Doctor was in the middle of saying.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" even Vastra was confused.

"Something's going on, something impossible, something…" Minerva was already getting a chill running up her spine at the thought of a new adventure.

The Doctor seemed to have the same idea as he grabbed her hand and backtracked them away from the others, "Right, you two stay here, stay right here, don't move an inch."

"Are you coming back?" Vastra called as the trio went off.

"Hopefully never!" came the excited squeal of Minerva from a distance.

"But where are you going?"

"To find her, to find Clara!"

~ 0 ~

In the present day, in London, walked two women through a graveyard. A brunette went slightly ahead while the other remained back, "Where are you going?" the second woman asked.

The brunette stopped by a grave, "Short cut!"

"Through there? I hate this place! Don't you think it's creepy?"

"No," the brunette turned around, revealing to be an exact copy of Clara Oswin Oswald, "We don't believe in ghosts."

"We?" the other woman repeated in confusion.

The brunette smiled and looked to the side, her blonde imaginary friend, Ally, smiling right back at her, - _Ghosts are vastly overrated_ -

~ 0 ~

The Doctor waited by the console for Minerva to return for their Christmas outing with her human family. After such a day, it was something he was truly looking forward to. Soon enough, he started to hear Elias' short babbles from the corridor with Minerva only replying with 'Aha's' to their son's "conversation".

"We're ready to go," announced Minerva as soon as they entered the console room. She set Elias down in his baby-walker near them and fixed her blouse, "Sorry I took so long. I had to call my grandfather and explain why I sent Elias so abruptly like that - he got worried."

"It's alright, but I do have to tell you that your grandmother has called five times since you left," the Doctor gestured to the phone on the console as if it were about to ring.

"Yeah, she's really worried we'll back out in the last minute," Minerva sheepishly smiled, "but we're not, right? No more cloud?"

"No more cloud," the Doctor promised her with a kiss, "And by the way, you look gorgeous."

Minerva blushed, "Well I did have a motive to dress nice - my Martian is celebrating Christmas."

"You look gorgeous, Clever Girl," the Doctor went ahead and kissed her again. However, Elias began to push himself towards his parents, eventually bumping the Doctor's leg. The Doctor broke the kiss to look down and chuckled when he saw Elias's eyes being covered by a green elf hat he wore, "Well then, we have a little elf helping for Christmas?" he bent down and picked up the baby, "It's a bit big, isn't it?" he lifted the hat a bit and revealed a toothless grin from Elias.

"He wanted it," Minerva defended herself, "and the uniform," he pointed at the elf costume Elias wore, "He said he wanted to bring presents to everyone."

' _I'm the elf!_ ' Elias exclaimed in their minds.

The Doctor laughed. "Well then, Arlo, are you ready to celebrate your first Christmas?"

Elias knew very well his name that was meant to be stay between him and his parents. He squealed as his answer. He then pushed himself towards the console, declaring in their minds he wanted to help his Daddy get them to his grandma's house.

"Merry Christmas," Minerva whispered and kissed the Doctor's cheek, her wide smile unable to be erased. Her present had been given and now they were finally back to normal.

She would always be in debt with Clara Oswin Oswald - and all the other versions they would find of her.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

 _I hate when characters die. That was one thing I didn't like of Clara's arc, is that all her echoes in the show had to die in the name of the Doctor *sigh. But anyways, I hope you guys liked the chapter that finally continues the story arc! And of course we got little moments of Elias lol, promise he'll be around more now. I also don't know if it was canon or not in the show to have time-tots actually be able to communicate with their parents telepathically but for this story it will be!_

 ** _For the Reviews:_**

 _Well, Minerva's labor turned out fine and we now have little Elias! Duuuuuude I'm still in denial Peter is actually leaving. Like, nope, 12 isn't dying, not at all! Between you and me, Christmas is so cancelled :/ Yeah, I love writing 12 because to me he's so much more different than 11 and 10. He kind of reminds me of 9 but I still think 12 is a whole new Doctor. The way I'm writing his first season is something I'm really liking in terms of his and Minerva's relationship - as well as Minerva herself, you'll see what I mean when we get there lol ;). If you're having trouble writing 12, I suggest going back and watching the episodes and then just kind of take a moment to think about it, and just let the ideas slowly come to you :)_

 _Oh don't worry, I saw it on my other story! I have a little countdown going on lmao for the new season. I am already so in love with Bill Potts! Well, as we can see little Elias is perfectly fine and ready to start his travels lol. I'm actually a child development major and I'm learning how pregnancy stages happen including the what-ifs of premature labor. Your story provides a new perspective on really just how hard this entire birthing process it. My lord what would we do without our mother's strength - first of all not even be here in the world lol. Applause for our moms!_

* * *

That's pretty much it for now! Next chapter we get the real Clara and her friend, meeting our trio of aliens and boy will her life change forever! Until next time guys! And for those who have started Spring break, like me, relax and have fun! :)


	8. A Babysitter & her Friend

Clara Oswald's imaginary friend, a blonde woman named Ally, roamed the street of their neighborhood under the dark night only iluminated by the street lights. She came to a stop midway and looked all around, seeing certain lights in some houses flicker on and off. A roaring of an airplane made her look up and see the same phenomenon happening up there as well.

- _It's becoming too much to ignore_ \- she sighed to herself and vanished. She reappeared in the bedroom of her 'creator', Clara, who slept in her bed peacefully. Ally moved over to Clara's laptop set on her small desk, said laptop left on to hopefully update itself. Clara had been having trouble using the internet for the past week and could get no such help from any computer helplines. Ally could see the list of nearby WiFis' on the computer but her eyes were trained on one particular name. It was a name she knew was the origin of all of the latest computer problems, as well as people's sudden deaths.

- _I was hoping I never had to do this_ \- Ally turned back, briefly looking at Clara before sighing again. - _You've been my family for years now, and you're in danger. I have to get you to call them. It's the only way to stop whatever is going on-_

~ 0 ~

A monk frustratingly pounded on the door in a monastery. After a good five minutes, someone from the other side opened up a window on the door.

"Wake the Abbott," ordered the monk, "The bells of Saint John are ringing!"

Someone else cleared their throat at the end of the hallway, "It's alright boys, I can take it from here."

The abott and the monk decided to keep going with their messenger task along with the new visitor of the monastery: a Moontsay Queen.

It wasn't often Minerva wore her royal dresses and much less in a human monastery, but she had gotten word of a mysterious caller that had gotten ahold of the palace's number. She was going straight for the Doctor and arrived in time to hear about a call for the TARDIS. It had to be of the same caller. So she lead the two men behind her towards a cavernous room at the end of the corridor. As she neared she could hear the familiar baby babbles she'd missed for a complete two hours.

Minerva entered the room with her arms open and a loud voice, "I'm back! And we're in a predicament!"

The Doctor, dressed as a monk, turned around from a painting, holding an 8 month old Elias imitating a monk as well, "You're back," the Doctor beamed.

"And I got a new wardrobe," she gestured to her silver gown, "How do I look?" she slowly turned around to show them her entire gown.

It was long sleeved and went down to her feet with a long tail behind. Towards the bottom at the front was another cut revealing her legs whenever she walked. Its dark silver shade shined with a reflection from a torch a monk behind her held. The accessories were simple: her birthday, silver necklace from the Doctor and her wedding band.

Elias was the first to comment on her appearance, ' _Pretty, Mommy! Pretty, Mommy_!' he excitedly clapped his hands and squealed.

Minerva grinned and reached for her son, "That's my cute baby! Come here!" she took him into his arms and pepper kissed his head, making him giggle.

The Doctor seemed to be thinking of something and reacted pretty much in the same way Elias had, "Pretty wife! Pretty wife!" and he tapped the top of his head to be kissed as well.

Minerva had to laugh at the gimmick, "Nice try, Martian," she kissed his cheek and stepped back, "Em, we have another mystery."

"Another mystery?" the Doctor frowned.

"Someone called the palace, and it sounded like a woman. She was English too. They traced the call back to Earth 2013."

The Doctor scratched his head and looked at the monk and abott by the threshold, "What?"

"I'm sorry to intrude. The bells of Saint John are ringing," the abott answered.

"I imagine it'll be the same woman who called the Monsoon," Minerva assumed without a doubt.

The Doctor nodded and spoke to the men, "I'm going to need a horse!"

"My painting," Minerva blinked as she saw her painting of Clara Oswin Oswald on a wooden stand, "What's it doing here? Last time I remembered I left it in my painting room - where I painted it."

"Yes…" the Doctor agreed, "...but, Elias and I may have wanted to try and copy it."

' _It did not go very well,_ ' Elias remarked with an inward grumble.

Minerva sighed and went towards the corridors, leaving the Doctor to follow.

~ 0 ~

Clara Oswald impatiently paced the floor of the kitchen with a phone glued to her ear, "Angie?" she called to a young teen sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop open, "Angie, is the internet working? Trying to phone the helpline, they won't answer."

Angie seemed to be indifferent and answered without even looking at Clara, "It's working for me."

"Can I use it when you're finished?"

Angie rolled her eyes, "More than one person can use the internet at a time, Clara."

"You done your homework?"

Angie finally decided to glance at Clara, but it wasn't for the happiest of reasons, "Shut up, you're not my mum!"

Clara seemed to be used to the rudeness because she remained calm, "And I'm not trying to be. OK?"

- _He's coming!_ \- called a voice, making Clara turn to the threshold of the kitchen.

Mr. Maitland entered the kitchen patting his front pockets in a rush, "Right…" his youngest child, Artie, raised his hand holding the car keys, "Yes!" his father took them and turned to Clara, "Angie's probably fine on her own, you could probably have the night off."

Clara nodded, "I'm OK, I'll be upstairs trying to figure out my computer."

"Anyway, the adverts are in, so hopefully we'll find someone," Mr. Maitland put on his jacket.

"I'm here as long as you need me," Clara reminded as always.

"Good! Right, come on, Artie, time to go."

Just as Artie was going to follow his father out, Clara reached for the book in his hand.

- _Summer Falls, love that book_ \- commented Clara's imaginary friend who sat on the edge of the counter. Clara looked up at her and smiled, - _Amelia Williams is **the** best author, right?_ -

Clara managed to give a nod to Ally without Artie seeing, "So, what chapter are you on?"

"Ten," Artie shrugged.

"11's the best. You'll cry your eyes out."

"Artie!" called his father and so went Artie in a rush.

Clara sighed as she returned to her phone call, "Oh, come on, just answer, just pick it up, pick it up, pick it up," she left the kitchen to head for her room upstairs. There she continued pacing back and forth.

- _Clara, you're making me dizzy. Sit down already_ \- Ally appeared on the edge of the bed, her eyes following Clara back and forth.

Obediently, Clara plopped down in front of her desk, "I just want the thing to work, Ally!" she groaned and frantically pushed a few keys on her laptop.

- _Patience is key, Clara_ \- Ally walked up beside Clara and leaned closer to the screen, her eyes narrowing at the list of WiFi names. Something was wrong with it and she was sure of it.

~ 0 ~

The trio of aliens arrived to their blue box and in all that time the phone on the door had yet to stop ringing. The Doctor motioned he would be taking the call, "Hello?"

"Ah, hello. I can't find the internet," came Clara's voice on the other side.

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor frowned, expecting pretty much everything except for that one.

"Who is it?" Minerva whispered to him and scooted closer to hear.

"It's gone, the internet. Can't find it anywhere," Clara continued, "Where is it?"

"The internet?"

"Yes, the internet. Why don't I have the internet?"

"But it's 1207," the Doctor scratched his head in confusion.

"I've got half past 3:00. Am I phoning a different time zone?"

"Yeah, you really sort of are."

"Will it show up on the bill?"

"Oh, I dread to think…"

Minerva heard enough and yanked the phone from the Doctor, "Listen, Miss, did you call somewhere else before this number? And was rudely hung up on?"

"Yes, actually," irritation was evident in Clara's voice, "you should really work on that -it was rude!"

Minerva looked at the Doctor, "I told you it was her."

The Doctor took back the phone, "Listen, where did you get these numbers?"

"One of my kids left it for me," Clara replied, missing Ally's guilty face behind her.

"I really doubt your kids left this number," the Doctor frowned.

"Who cares - so why isn't there internet? Shouldn't it just sort of... be there?"

Minerva shook her head, "Something's not right here. Hang up and we'll trace the call on the TARDIS."

The Doctor thought that was best but Clara kept insisting on her internet problems and he couldn't leave her, "You _have_ clicked on the Wi-Fi button, haven't you?"

"Hang on. Erm... Wi-Fi?" Clara repeated, sounding lie she wasn't very sure.

"Click on the Wi-Fi. You'll see a list of names. Is there one you recognize?"

Clara clicked on the family's WiFi and sighed, "It's asking me for a password."

"Then ask one of your kids for it!"

Minerva already had a door open and was impatiently waiting for the Doctor to hang up, "Martian, c'mon!"

"Hang on. Just a mo," Clara called around the same time, and there was a bit silence before she began to type in the password, "Run. You. Clever. Boy. And. Remember. One! Two! Three!"

The Doctor was left frozen on his spot after hearing that, "What did you say?"

"Don't shout, you made me type it wrong!" Clara groaned, "It's thrown me out again. What do I do, how do I get back in?"

"Martian, what is it?" Minerva asked, seeing his troubled face.

"We have to trace that call!" the Doctor left the phone in its place and ran for the inside of the box, yanking Minerva and Elias with him.

~ 0 ~

Clara had to leave her phone call due to a ring at the front door. In the meanwhile, her friend Ally was frantically looking at the laptop that had accidentally given Clara the wrong WiFi.

- _Anything but that! Please!_ \- Ally cried but to was too late. The wrong WiFi had been activated and God knew what would happen next.

Clara hurried down the stairs and opened the front door, "Hello?" and suddenly she was seeing a monk, a princess (?), and a baby dressed as a monk.

"Clara? Clara Oswald?" the Doctor got straight to the point.

"Hello?" Clara was highly amused at the costumes of the trio but found it also odd.

"Are you Clara Oswin Oswald?" Minerva joined the Doctor's questions.

"Just Clara Oswald. What was that middle one?"

"Do you remember us!?" Minerva blurted.

"No. Should I?" Clara was sure she would remember such an odd trio, "Who are you?"

"Minerva," the ginger stepped inside, "and the Doctor? No?"

Elias made a fussy noise showing his irritation of being left out. Just because he never meet the governess didn't mean he shouldn't be included. However, his attention was diverted when something upstairs caught his green-shaded eyes.

Clara was left standing at the door while Minerva and the Doctor went further inside. The Doctor saw a wall mirror and stopped by it. Minerva stopped as well and stared at him, "You don't make a good monk," she stated.

The Doctor opened his mouth to counter when he took a good look at her, "...you make a beautiful queen," Minerva blushed and looked away.

"Excuse me!?" Clara exclaimed and got their attention.

"Oh sorry!" Minerva realized they'd rudely stepped inside the house and hurried out, pulling the Doctor with her.

As soon as they were all outside, Clara slammed the door on them and turned away, "Weird…" she whispered. She headed for the stairs and saw Ally at the top, "Hey, did you see those two?"

The two aliens outside pounded on the door, "Hey, no! Clara, please!" called the Doctor.

- _Maybe you should listen to them_ \- Ally appeared midway the stairs beside Clara, - _They sound worried_ -

"They're weird!"

"Clara,we need to talk to you! Listen, please," pleaded Minerva.

- _They sound sincere_ \- Ally insisted, crossing her arms.

Clara sighed and returned to the door. She turned on the intercom and the trio appeared onscreen, "Why are you still here? Why are you here at all?"

"Excuse us but _you_ phoned _us_ ," Minerva pointed at her through the screen, "You were looking for the internet."

"That was you?" Clara blinked, "How did you get here so fast?"

"We just happened to be in the neighborhood," the Doctor excused and stepped aside to reveal the TARDIS behind, "On our mobile phone."

Clara stared at the box for a moment. "When you say "mobile phone", why do you point at that blue box?"

"Because it's a surprisingly accurate description," Minerva shrugged.

"OK, we're finished now," Clara switched off the intercom and turned around, coming face to face with Ally, "I told you they were weird."

- _And you were rude_ \- accused the friend.

"What? Why are you taking their side!?"

Ally sighed. - _I'm not, I'm just…_ -

The two heard a creaking noise coming from upstairs. Clara could swear it was someone walking, but that couldn't be right...she'd given Angie permission to go out, leaving Clara all on her own.

So then who was it?

~ 0 ~

The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS for Minerva and Elias to come in, "Right, don't be a monk. Monks are not cool!" the Doctor exclaimed in a huff.

"Yeah, we don't look very normal," Minerva looked down at her gown, "Poor Clara, we must have scared her," she set Elias down in his baby-walker and followed the Doctor down under the console, "A monk, a princess and a baby monk isn't something you see every day."

"Well you don't see 2 women dying and reappearing everyday, do you?" the Doctor countered.

"Touche," Minerva laughed and opened up a small closet to see options for clothes, "So, what shall we pick? I left my regular clothes on the Monsoon."

"What's wrong with that one?" the Doctor trailed her over repeatedly, "I think you look amazing."

"Well do me a favor and not rip this one? I was asked questions about it when I brought it in to mend and...well…" she started blushing with warm cheeks, "...I couldn't exactly say my husband accidentally ripped it off because he was in a hurry to get it off me."

"Don't see why you can't," the Doctor looked around innocently though his face was rather warm as well, "It's perfectly normal in marriages."

Minerva chuckled, "Yeah, sure."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against him, "It's nothing fact, that same issue could happen right now if you don't stop looking gorgeous."

"I'm sorry, but I have no control over that," Minerva giggled and wound her arms over his shoulders.

"You're going to have to stop or else…" the Doctor finished his threat with a gentle kiss.

"I like this punishment," Minerva widened her smile, "But we don't have time."

The Doctor seemed to take that as a challenge, evidently wanting to prove her wrong with his rushed kisses. Minerva giggled when his hands trailed her sides in their smooth (and sometimes ticklish) manner. Unfortunately, the babbles of Elias started carrying over from above, reminding the two adults they weren't alone.

Minerva pulled from their kiss but remained in the Doctor's arms, "Remember I told you this would happen a lot if we had a kid?"

"And do you regret our mini-Martian?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, not as upset of their interruption.

"Not one bit," Minerva said instantly, her honest clear in her smile as she turned her head up to hear better Elias, "I think I better go change him. Meet you in a bit," he gave the Doctor a last kiss then hurried up the stairs.

~ 0 ~

"Yes, Elias, you can take Roger. Yes, I mean it," Minerva was coming in with a talkative baby in her arms - telepathically anyways.

' _You promise, Mommy? Because you promised to let me play with my toys and you put me to bed instead!_ ' Elias was holding a small, brown stuffed teddy bear in his arms.

"Well this time I mean it," Minerva patted his head, "Doctor? Are you finished?" she called when she saw no Time Lord in sight.

"Just about, yes," the Doctor surprised her with a hug from behind, "And you still look gorgeous," he kissed her cheek.

Minerva rolled her eyes and turned around, "It's just a blouse and jeans, Mar-" she stopped when she saw him in his new outfit, "...you changed…"

"Yes, I did, is it alright?" the Doctor stepped back nervously. He didn't really know why he had opted for a different outfit, it had just been on a whim. He abandoned his brown tweed jacket for a longer, dark purple coat. The suspenders were also gone and replaced with a gray vest over a white button up shirt. Everything else remained normal - black trousers and black shoes.

"You're still a geek," began Minerva and instantly made him relax, "but I think you're a more attractive geek in those."

Approving, the Doctor kissed her forehead and led her towards the door, "C'mon, then!"

They all returned to Clara's front door and politely knocked, "Clara?" Minerva called through the intercom.

"Hello?" Clara asked.

"It's us again - and we're normal this time, I promise. Can you let us in, please?"

"I don't understand…"

"Could you just open the door?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know…"

"Of course you can!"

"…where I am."

Minerva and the Doctor exchanged looks of concern.

"I don't know where I am," Clara continued, her voice in full blown panic, "Where am I? Please tell me, where I am! I don't know where I am."

The Doctor quickly took out his sonic to use on the door when the door itself opened up - a creek, "That was...weird," the Doctor breathed and ran inside the house.

Clara was lying on the floor unconscious while her voice was still active, but not from her body, "I don't know where I am!"

"What's wrong with her!?" Minerva cried while the Doctor knelt down beside Clara.

He used his sonic to trace the source of Clara's voice.

"I don't know where I am! I don't understand. I don't know where I am! I don't know where I am!"

' _Mommy! Mommy! Look!_ ' Elias was frantically trying to push himself to the stairs in Minerva's arms, ' _Mommy look! It's-_ '

"Oh my God," Minerva and the Doctor has discovered a little girl with its head turned around. On its back it had a screen of Clara talking, confused.

"I don't understand! I don't know where I am! Where am I? I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am."

"What the hell is that?" Minerva stepped back with her son tightly in her arms.

 _'No, not that!_ ' Elias was lost in his own demands, ' _Look, Mommy! Over there!_ '

But Minerva was too engulfed in the robotic girl to pay attention. The Doctor used the sonic on the robot with everything it had. Soon enough, the image of the little girl traded in for a simple humanoid robot.

"A walking base station," he blinked and lowered the sonic, "A walking Wi-Fi base station, hoovering up data. Hoovering up people!"

"Well do something!" Minerva exclaimed, feeling powerless, "She can't die again! Please!"

The Doctor did just that and ran up the stairs. Minutes later he returned holding a keyboard which he would use to counterattack the robot, "Oh, no, you don't. Oh, no, you don't," he fiercely typed away.

"Can you really hack it?" asked Minerva who crouched down beside him.

"Oh you just watch me, Clever Girl," the Doctor promised it would be alright.

As promised, the integration of Clara went down to a zero. Minerva tried feeling for the brunette's pulse but still felt nothing. Suddenly, the robot above shot a beam to Clara's body. Immediately Clara started coughing and rolled over to her back.

"She's alive!" beamed Minerva, "Oh thank goodness, she's alive!" the Doctor nodded in equal joy and kissed her head.

Neither noticed Elias staring straight up to the top of the staircase, past the robot, as if someone else were there.

~ 0 ~

Clara woke up in her room on her bed, the first thing coming to site being a plate of cookies with one of them half eaten. She sat up with a frown, her memory fuzzy of the last couple hours.

- _Something bad happened to you_ \- Allu sat at the window couch, looking indeed putout, - _And they saved you_ -

Clara remained silent as her mind tried to remember such events.

Ally seemed distant like she herself was thinking, - _And then...something weirder happened_ \- Clara raised an eyebrow, waiting for Ally to continue. Ally took a deep breath and rose to her feet, - _They're outside if you want to thank them. I think they're protecting you_ -

Clara stood up and went up to the small window and opened it up. She leaned out and saw the blue box from before standing just outside the house at its driveway. Minerva and the Doctor were sat on folded chairs outside the TARDIS. The Doctor worked on the robot from earlier. Minerva fiddled with Elias who was busy showing her his teddy bear, even though she'd seen it for the past 2 months.

"Hello?" Clara decided to call for them.

The adults looked up and waved, "Hello! Are you all right?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm in bed," Clara remarked.

"Yes, you are," agreed Minerva.

"What did I miss?" Clara took notice it was dark out.

"Oh, quite a lot, actually," the Doctor rose and pulled out a mini-notebook from his pocket, "Angie called, she's going to stay over at Nina's. Apparently that's all completely fine and you shouldn't worry like you always do, for God's sake, get off her back," he flipped to the next page, "Also, your dad phoned. Mainly about the government. He seems very cross with them, I've got several pages on that," he flipped through said pages, "I said I'd look into it. I fixed that rattling noise in the washing machine, indexed the kitchen cupboards, optimized the photosynthesis in the main flowerbed and assembled the quadrocycle."

Clara blinked at that last one, "Assembled the what?"

"I found a disassembled quadrocycle in the garage."

Minerva looked up from Elias and sighed, "And I keep telling him he did not."

Clara smiled at the two, "What happened to me?"

"Don't you remember?" the Doctor frowned.

"I was scared. Really scared. I didn't know where I was."

"And do you know now?" Minerva asked and turned back to see the woman.

"Yes."

"Well, then, you should go to sleep, because you're safe now, we promise. Goodnight, Clara."

Obediently, Clara closed her window and moved to her bed.

- _I told you they were protecting you_ \- Ally said beside her, still staring at the window.

Clara glanced at her friend for a moment before deciding to leave. Minutes later she emerged from the house juggling three cups of tea in her arms and a folded chair under her arm. Surprised by the action, Minerva and the Doctor stared at her as she neared them.

"A little help here," the poor woman called. The Doctor hurried over and took the folded chair and a cup of tea, "Thanks," Clara smiled in gratitude as the Doctor put her chair in front of his and Minerva's, "Here you go," she handed her other cup to Minerva.

Thanking her, Minerva took the cup. She felt if she stated her dislike for tea it would shy Clara away from them. She just wouldn't drink any and not say anything. Besides, Cara would be distracted by other things.

"We like your house," the Doctor remarked to Clara.

"It isn't mine, I'm a friend of the family," Clara shrugged as she took her seat.

"Do you look after the kids? Oh yes, you're a governess, aren't you," he tapped his forehead with a wrench he was using on the robot, "just like…" Minerva nudged him before he could say something about Clara Oswin Oswald.

"Just like what?" Clara waited for an answer curiously.

"Nothing," Minerva waved the Doctor off, "Have you met our son? He's a charmer," she hated using her son as a distraction but his father was an idiot and Elias would need to start saving his father from an early age.

Clara smiled at the baby and reached to touch him when Elias shifted and put his teddy bear in front of his face. To the adults it seemed more like a shy move but in reality Elias was rather crossed with someone. Clara took the bear's paw and wiggled it a bit, "What's his name?" she looked at the adults.

"Elias," the Doctor answered and gently lowered the teddy bear from Elias's face. Quickly, Elias redid his action and had his bear in front of his face.

"And I'm guessing he's really fond of his bear," chuckled Clara.

' _His name is Roger'_ Elias frowned.

"He named the bear Roger," Minerva said to Clara, sounding a bit displeased.

"What? But he can't talk yet…" Clara stared at the baby.

"No and yes," Minerva shrugged, "He can telepathically speak to myself and the Doctor. It's an ability our kind have."

Clara followed that with a slow nod, "Okay…" she preferred to talk about the baby's stuffed teddy bear since that seemed more normal and less scary, "...so, Roger, huh?" she cooed at the baby, "Interesting name. How'd you come up with it?'

"He didn't," Minerva crossly muttered with a glare at the Doctor, "He heard it on a TV show."

"Which one?" Clara noticed the looks between the adults. Minerva seemed irritated while the Doctor looked defensive.

"I thought Jack would be a good babysitter!" the Doctor huffed.

"Who the hell let's a baby - a baby smarter than the average baby - watch American Dad!?"

"Oh!" Clara chimed in, "He named it after that little gray alien! The rude one?"

' _He was funny_!' giggled Elias, only furthering Minerva's irritation.

"I can't get him to give the bear a different name," Minerva sighed, "My grandmother gave it to him for Christmas and she's not going to be too happy."

Clara chuckled and leaned back on her seat to take a sip of her tea. Her eyes noticed her notebook the Doctor had, "Hey, that's mine," she pointed and made the two adults look at the book, "What are you using it for? Has it something to do with what happened to me earlier?"

"Kind of," the Doctor lifted the notebook and studied the pages, "There's something in the Wi-Fi. OK. This whole world is swimming in Wi-Fi. We're living in a Wi-Fi soup! Suppose something got inside it. Suppose there was something living in the Wi-Fi, harvesting human minds, extracting them. Imagine that. Human souls trapped like flies in the World Wide Web, stuck forever, crying out for help."

Clara blinked, "Isn't that basically Twitter?'

Minerva laughed and the Doctor continued his typing. However, Minerva slowly stopped as did the Doctor, "Hey, wait a minute…" Minerva frowned at Clara.

Ally appeared beside Clara wearing the same expressions the aliens had, - _Clara, you just made a Twitter joke-_ she made Clara realize.

"A computer can hack another computer. A living, sentient computer... Maybe that could that hack people. Edit them," the Doctor slowly said and glanced at Minerva, "Rewrite them."

"I just made a Twitter joke!" Clara exclaimed in horror, "That's weird. I know all about computers now in my head. Where did that come from?"

"You were uploaded for a while. Wherever you were, you brought something extra back," Minerva reasoned and suddenly tightened her grip around Elias, "Which I very much doubt you're going to be allowed to keep."

The Doctor noticed a person standing under a streetlights across them. He stood up and leaned forwards for across better look - it was another robot. Quickly, he took Minerva's hand and yanked her up, "Clara, inside that box, now," he nodded to the TARDIS.

"I'm sorry?" Clara frowned.

"Just get inside," the Doctor ordered again as he hurried to the blue box.

"All of us?"

"Cut the chitchat we're in trouble," Minerva motioned for Clara to come in.

But Clara seemed relaxed, her eyes studios as they trailed over the TARDIS, "What is that box, anyway? Why do you have a box?"

"Clara!" the Doctor groaned impatiently.

"Is it like a snogging booth?"

"A what?!" both Minerva and the Doctor glanced at each other then genuinely considered the answer.

Sometimes...it was.

"Where do you put your son?" Clara curiously wondered.

The Doctor saw lights in various houses come on nearly around the same time, "Clara!" he shouted, "Look around you!"

"What's going on?" she frowned, "Is the Wi-Fi switching on the lights?"

Ally was beside her again, staring at the various houses - _Clara, please listen to them. Something is wrong_ \- she then flickered her appearance to the roof of their home, - _London's lights are going off_ -

Clara studied her house and found all the lights properly on, "But not ours," she called to Ally without thinking of the other people with her, "All our lights on, everyone else's off. Why?"

"Who are you talking to?" Minerva looked in the same direction Clara was up at the roof of their house.

"But she's right," the Doctor focused on the big picture, "And you know what? Some planes have Wi-Fi."

- _You guys are a hell of a target right now_ \- Ally recalled Clara's attention, - _Clara, a plane. A plane is coming for you all! Run!_ -

Thankfully, Clara acted fast and turned to the aliens beside her, "A plane is coming for us! We have to run!"

Minerva was still staring at the roof, searching for the person Clara spoke to, "But who were you talking to? How do you know about a plane?"

"It doesn't matter how I know, I just do!" Clara couldn't help snap, "We're all in trouble so we have to-" and then they heard the nearing airplane engines up in the sky.

The Doctor quickly grabbed Minerva's and Clara's hands to bring them into the TARDIS, "Yes, it's a spaceship. Yes, it's bigger on the inside. No, we don't have time to talk about it," he told Clara in less than a speedy minute.

"I still don't get it!" Minerva exclaimed and turned to Clara, half demanding from her, "Are you psychic or something?"

"What?" Clara momentarily forgot about the shocking interior of the TARDIS, "Psychic? Where'd you get that from?"

"You were talking to someone about the lights and then you started with then planes before an actual plane came by," Minerva would've waved her hands if she hadn't been holding Elias.

"I'm not a psychic!" Clara shook her head, "And I just know things okay…"

"That sounds like a psychic to me..." Minerva continued eyeing the brunette suspiciously.

"Stop it!" called the Doctor from the console, "Short hops are difficult."

"I want to know," Minerva stayed adamant on the topic, something that made Clara nervous. Minerva watched the brunette's eyes flicker from her to an empty space beside herself, like something was there. That right there meant she was right!

Thankfully for Clara, the Doctor had managed to get the TARDIS to where it needed to go, "Right, come on!"

Clara turned to the door, staring at it incredulously, "Are we going back out there?"

"We've moved. It's a spaceship, we flew away," the Doctor assured and looked at Minerva, "Stay here with Elias."

"Yeah, right," declared Minerva and walked up to him.

With a sigh, the Doctor opened the doors and stumbled out into the airplane they had just escaped from. Minerva leaned against the galley wall holding Elias who seemed to be having fun judging by his constant giggles.

Clara came out last with a stumble and gaped, "How did we get here?"

The Doctor battled the turbulence as he went for the cockpit, "It's a ship, I told you, it's all very science-y!"

"Elias, calm down," scolded Minerva as she started down the aisle.

The baby was loudly giggling and flapping his teddy bear all around, ' _I like this!_ ' he declared.

"Unbelievable," Minerva a groaned and went along with her giggling baby.

"Is this the plane, the actual plane?" Clara slowly stepped after Minerva, gripping her tea cup as she saw all the out cold passengers in their seats, "Are they all dead?"

"Asleep, switched off by the Wi-Fi, never mind them!" the Doctor exclaimed from ahead. With the sonic, they were able to enter the cockpit. He then used the sonic on the panels in front of the two out cold captains of the plane.

Clara was busy taking it all in and she couldn't help disbelieve it, "What is going on? Is this real? Please tell me what is happening!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Where to start, um, I'm the Doctor, that's my wife Minerva and our son Elias. We're aliens from outer space. Minerva's a Queen of an alien planet, our son is the first of his kind to be born in millenniums, I'm 1,000 years old. I've got two hearts, as does my son. And none of us can fly a plane, can you?"

Clara stared at him with wide eyes, "No!"

- _You might want to hold on_ \- Ally appeared beside Clara.

"Oooh! Fine, let's do it together," the Doctor wasted no time in yanking the throttle to hold back the plane. It was just enough to get the plane to only skim over the Maitland house. The Doctor laughed and found he was accompanied by his son who was radically giggling and squealing in delight, "Do you think a victory roll would be too show-off-y?" the Doctor asked the women.

"Are you kidding me!?" Minerva glared at him.

The pilot began waking up and was confused to see the group with them,"What the hell's going on?"

"Well, I'm blocking your Wi-Fi, so you're waking up for a start. Tell you what," the Doctor motioned to the throttle and stood up, "do you want to drive?"

A stunned Clara was taken back by the Doctor by an arm. She remained in that state until she was back in the TARDIS and the Doctor was setting in destination coordinates. She placed her cup of tea down and determinedly turned to the adults, "OK. When are you going to explain what the hell is going on?"

"Breakfast," the Doctor answered with instead. The TARDIS lurched a bit then came to a stop.

Just as the Doctor pulled Minerva and Elias for the door, Clara got in the way and blocked them, "What? I ain't waiting till breakfast."

- _Ain't is not a real word, Clara_ \- went Ally beside her.

"Shush!" Clara said to her and instigated more suspicion from Minerva.

"There you go again!" the ginger exclaimed, "Doctor I'm telling you she's not telling us something important - among other things."

"Hey, if anyone's not telling important stuff it's you two," Clara countered with an accusing finger.

The Doctor sighed, "Listen both of you, we're gonna get breakfast and we're all going to explain certain things," he warned both women.

And so was the plan to get breakfast. Clara got the shock of her life to learn the blue box was in fact a time machine. She came out to step into a burning morning sun! And if that wasn't enough, they actually got money for the blue box by people thinking it was all just an act. It was enough money to get to a cafe for breakfast - via a motorcycle that Minerva did not approve of for her son. But Elias didn't mind one bit.

Now sitting at a rooftop café overlooking a Cathedral, Clara was finally beginning to get her explanations.

"So if we can travel anywhere in time and space, why did we travel to the morning?" Clara took observation of the cafe they were in, feeling rather superior to the people who were having their normal day, "What's the point in that?"

"Whoever's after us spent the whole night looking for us," the Doctor answered with a smug grin, "Are you tired?"

"Yes."

"Then imagine how they feel. They came the long way round," he laughed and returned to the laptop in front of him, occasionally glancing at the journal he had beside him, "They've got to be close, definitely London, going by the signal distribution. I can hack the lowest level of their operating system, but I can't establish a physical location, the security's too good."

Clara studied him a moment then glanced at Minerva who was busy trying to give Elias a small piece of banana, "So...you're all aliens…?" she remembered the Doctor's small explanation in the airplane.

"We are, yes," Minerva looked up, "And you are a psychic or something? ...or you just like talking to thin air?"

Clara quickly looked down, preferring to keep quiet. Ally sat beside her and placed a hand on Clara's arm, - _She doesn't understand, Clara. Don't feel bad_ -

"So, we should get back to work, then," the Doctor said in an effort to keep the peace. Minerva was beginning to get irritated that Clara was avoiding any answers.

"What do you plan to do when you find them?" Clara gathered her courage to speak again and was barely managing to ignore the looks from the Doctor's wife - and son?

"I don't know. I can't tell the future, I just work there," the Doctor shrugged.

"You don't have a plan?"

"He never has a plan," Minerva shook her head.

Clara didn't seem to like that judging by the horrific look she had on the Doctor. The Doctor seemed relaxed and shrugged, "I really don't."

"People always have plans," she slowly reached for her drink and slurped the remainder of it.

"Yes. Yes, I suppose they do," he agreed, " So tell us, how long have you been looking after those kids?"

"About a year, since their mum died…" Clara seemed hesitant to speak about the subject.

"OK. But why you?" Minerva decided to ask, "Family friend, I get that, but there must have been others - like an actual relative. Why did it have to be you? I mean, you don't you don't really seem like a nanny."

Clara pushed her empty drink away and reached for her notebook, "Gimme!" but the Doctor slammed a hand on the computer to stop her from taking it as well.

"Sorry, what?"

"You need to know where they physically are. Their exact location. I can do it," she took it all from him and grinned.

"Oi! I need that!" the Doctor refused to give up just yet but she leaned back from his grasp.

"You've hacked the lower operating system. I'll have their physical location in under five minutes. Go and get a coffee."

The Doctor grabbed the notebook and scowled, "If I can't find them, you can't."

- _He's doubting you_ \- Ally crossed her arms and glared at the Doctor, - _You're smart, don't let him do that_ -

Clara agreed and with a fierce determination yanked the notebook back, "They uploaded me, remember. I've got computing stuff in my head."

"She's got a point there," admitted Minerva.

"Yeah, well so do I," the Doctor pulled the notebook towards him.

Clara took it back, "I have insane hacking skills."

"I'm from space, and the future, with two hearts and...27 brains," the Doctor yanked the notebook back.

"And I can find them in under five minutes, plus photographs. 27?"

"He's lying cos he feels threatened," Minerva sighed and took the notebook from the Doctor, "Martian why don't you give her a chance. I want coffee, please," she added that last part with a sweet smile.

The Doctor sighed and let it all go, "But the security is absolute."

Clara took back the notebook from Minerva and started typing, "It's never about the security, it's about the people."

The Doctor stared at her a moment before rising and heading for the cafe to get Minerva her coffee. However, by the doorway he stopped and glanced back, once again looking at her.

Clara noticed all the stares and looked up from the screen, "Okay, why do you both keep looking at me like that?"

Minerva didn't realize she'd been staring at the woman as well and apologized, "Sorry, it's just...you're a nanny. Isn't that a bit... Victorian?"

Clara lifted an eyebrow, "Victorian?"

"You're young," the Doctor added from his spot, "shouldn't you be doing, you know, young things?" he tried doing his own dance poses which only served to make Elias giggle, "With-with-with... young people?"

Clara's eyes brows remained raised as she turned to Minerva, "How do I respond to that?" Minerva let escape a small smile of amusement while the Doctor groaned and entered the cafe.

"You get used to all that," Minerva sighed and straightened up in her chair, "So, what's the deal with you, then?"

"Hm?" Clara kept typing on the computer.

"Who do you talk to?"

"Oh, um, er…"

"And don't play me like I'm stupid because I'm not and I will found out what you're hiding and make you pay for it if it harms my family."

Under the threat, Clara shrunk and was left silent. Ally sighed and also straightened up, - _Just tell her about me. She thinks you have some thing dangerous that could hurt her family. She's scared, that's all. Show her she has nothing to fear_ -

Clara scratched the side of her head, "I, um, I...well…" she took a deep breath then let it all out, "I have an imaginary friend that I talk to when people aren't around."

Minerva was expecting almost anything except for that. For a second, she thought maybe she heard wrong. "I-imaginary friend?"

"Mhm," Clara nodded slowly, afraid of what kind of reactions she would get from Minerva. She'd never told anyone about that. As a kid only her parents were informed of her imaginary friend - but that was as a kid.

"Wait," Minerva stared at Clara with a look that proved to Clara that adults, whether humans or aliens, were all the same, "How old are you again? 23, right?"

"Okay, so I'm an adult and I have an imaginary friend. I don't steal, I don't harm people," Clara started listing off with her fingers, "and I'm not malevolent to anyone. I just have an imaginary friend."

"And that's who you were talking to last night?"

"Yes."

"And it told you of the airplane?"

"First of all, she's not a 'it', she's a she," Clara pointed, "Her name's Ally and she's very real to me, okay? It might seem stupid to you but she's the last thing I have from a time in my life that was good."

Minerva could see the truth in Clara's big eyes and decided to leave it there, "Okay, you're right. I was just scared for my family. I have a son now and...sometimes I get a little overprotective."

"I can understand that, but please don't ever think I'm trying to hurt anyone."

"Okay," Minerva nodded, "So you have an imaginary friend that can tell you stuff that's...actually true…"

Nope, she could not desist in her suspicions. If it wasn't Clara then perhaps it was that friend of hers. Imaginary friends couldn't actually tell you something was going to happen because they weren't real.

"Ally," Clara reminded.

"Nice name…"

"Well, it's short for Aliveta," Clara admitted shyly, blushing under the look of Minerva, "I was five when I created her. But I mostly call her Ally now."

"Right, okay," Minerva tried acting casual about the topic now.

Clara's smile faded when she noticed Elias, "Why is your baby looking at me like that?"

"Hm?" Minerva looked down at her son and saw he was almost glaring at Clara. He was perfectly still with his teddy bear in his arms yet his face was formed into a small frown, "El? What are you doing?" Minerva couldn't help chuckle at his little face.

' _I don't like her, Mommy,_ ' Elias replied in her mind.

Minerva glanced at Clara, confused. Clara blinked as she looked between Minerva and the baby, "What? What he say?"

"Um, he, um, he's just shy around new people," Minerva said instead of the truth. Elias hadn't met a lot of people but the people he had he'd never disliked. Why would he suddenly dislike Clara?

"Is he mad at me or something?" Clara was having a mini-stare down with Elias and so far...the baby was winning, "What's the matter little man?" she reached to toy with his hand but he battered her away.

"Um, he's just cranky because he's missed his nap," Minerva stood up and shifted Elias to her other hip, "and the Doctor is the one who puts him to sleep so I'll just go ask him," and with that excuse she hurried towards the cafe.

' _Mommy, I don't like her,_ ' repeated Elias as they left.

' _Why not?_ ' Minerva immediately asked telepathically.

' _She has a secret_.'

' _What's the secret?_ '

' _I can't tell you. Ally told me not to_.'

"Ally?" Minerva repeated outloud just as she'd entered the cafe room, "But she's a-"

"Minerva! No!" the Doctor's panicked shout stopped Minerva dead at the cafe doorway, "Go back! Go!"

"What? Why!?" that's when Minerva noticed the entire cafe customers and employees completely still, "Okay, what's going on?" but just like that, everything went back to normal. The Doctor darted out the doorway straight to Clara then came back a couple minutes later, "Are you going to explain any of this?" Minerva raised an expectant eyebrow at him.

"Um, er, Wifi," the Doctor slowly walked back into the cafe, "taking over people, um…" one of the waitresses came up to him with a blank face, much like before.

"Now I want you to take a look around. Go on," her voice was slightly altered as if someone was speaking through her, "Have a little stroll. And see how impossible your situation is."

"The WiFi?" Minerva guessed and stepped forwards, "See this is why I don't like technology. Suddenly I'm the Lorax thinking we're progressing far too fast."

"Funny," the waitress remarked monotonously, "but do take a look around the place. I do love showing off. We can control anyone and anything at any time we want," electricity cackled and the waitress returned to normal.

"That's showing off indeed," Minerva moved up beside the Doctor in a hurry, "What the hell is going on?"

The sound of electricity cackling emerged again and suddenly a young girl stood up from the table of her family and turned to the two aliens, "Just let me show you what control of the Wi-Fi can do for one."

"That's sick," spat Minerva, holding her son closer to her, "using a child to make a point?"

"Stop!" the girl cried and everyone in the cafe went still.

"We saw what you can do last night," the Doctor scowled.

"And clear!" the girl said and everyone left the room. The electricity then passed from the girl to a newsreader on the television, "We can hack anyone in the Wi-Fi, once they've been exposed long enough."

"So that means there's one of your walking base stations somewhere close," Minerva concluded with a smirk, "Better get ready cos we're coming down any moment."

"There's always someone close. We've released thousands into the world. They home in on the Wi-Fi like rats sniffing cheese."

The Doctor had enough and went for the TV, "I don't know who you are or why you're doing this but the people of this world will not be harmed, they will not be controlled, they will not be…"

"The people of this world are in no danger whatsoever. My client requires a steady diet of living human minds. Healthy, free range human minds. He loves and cares for humanity. In fact, he can't get enough of it."

"That's murder," accused Minerva.

"It's life."

"Murder!"

"The farmer tends his flock like a loving parent. The abattoir is not a contradiction. No-one loves cattle more than Burger King."

"This ends," the Doctor declared warningly, "I am going to the end this today!"

"How? You don't even know where we are."

"But we will," Minerva threatened, "you and your client will be found."

"How will you do that when you have a friend to attend to?"

The Doctor turned around and looked at Minerva, "Clara!" they cried in unison and hurried out of the cafe.

They saw a second Doctor standing by the table, Clara slumped over said table. The second Doctor turned his head completely to show Clara in the screen, now fully uploaded.

Clara was panicked, terrified as she called, "Doctor? Minerva? Help me. I don't know where I am. I don't understand. I don't know where I am! Please help me. I don't know where I am! I don't know where I am. Please, please, help me. I don't know where I am."

The Doctor wasted no time in using the sonic on the robot of himself to get Clara out. Unfortunately, they realized it was too late as Clara's conscious was fully gone.

But that didn't mean it was over.

~ 0 ~

In the station of the 'WiFi' the head, a Miss Kizlet, was not too surprised to see the Doctor sitting at her desk of her office, wearing a helmet, said office completely thrashed with shattered glass. He'd come in via anti-grav motorcycle and did not regret it one bit.

"Do come in," Kizlet joked darkly and closed the door.

"Download her," the Doctor ordered.

"Sorry about the draft," Kizlet gestured to her shattered glass window, uncaring of the Doctor's orders.

"Download her back into her body, right now," he repeated.

"I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"She's a fully integrated part of the data cloud now. She can't be separated."

But that wasn't enough for the Doctor to stop, far from it, "Then download the entire cloud. Everyone you've trapped in there."

"You realise what would happen?"

"Yes, those still with bodies to go home to would be free," the Doctor stood off the desk with arms open.

"A tiny number," Kizlet crossed her arms, "Most would simply die."

The Doctor went up to the woman, "They'd be released from a living hell. It's the best you can do for them, so give the order."

Kizlet scoffed, "And why would I do that?"

"Because I'm going to motivate you. Any second now," the Doctor checked his watch with a smirk.

"You ridiculous man! Why did you even come here? Whatever for?"

"I didn't."

Kizlet blinked, "What?"

"I'm still in the cafe, with my wife and son... did we mention we're all pretty clever?"

"What are you talking about?" while Kizlet was confused it didn't stop her from stepping backwards.

"You hack people, but us?" the Doctor began untying his helmet. "I'm old-fashioned. We hack technology. And here's your motivation!" his head turned around completely it was in fact the robot from earlier.

Kizlet stared at the robot in horror, knowing what would come next, "No. No. No! Not me! Not me!" she cried as the beam shot out of the robot and towards her.

Once fully integrated, Kizlet had no choice but to give the order to be downloaded back, which would then prompt for everyone else to be re-downloaded. And even though her employees were reluctant, with the help of the robot Doctor, they were 'motivated' to obey Kizlet.

~ 0 ~

Back in the cafe, Clara took a deep breath in her now sleep and remained unconscious. The Doctor stood up and helped Minerva out of her seat next. By the time Clara finally woke up, she was alone at the table. "Doctor? Minerva?" she looked around, completely lost.

- _They saved you, Clara_ \- Ally had her hands on Clara and smiling in relief, - _You should have seen them. Like heros they were_ -

Clara dimly smiled back and nodded, thankful herself she'd met Minerva and the Doctor. Ally was grateful that the two had arrived despite being tricked into it by herself.

~ 0 ~

"Elias, won't you please tell Mommy what Clara's secret is?" Minerva was sitting on the stairs of the console room with the Doctor beside her and Elias on her lap, busily playing with his teddy bear.

' _I already told you, Mommy, I can't. Ally said I couldn't,_ ' Elias replied without looking up from his bear.

Minerva sighed and glanced at the Doctor, "See?" she'd told him what Elias had said about Clara but the Doctor had been reluctant to believe it.

"Let me try," the Doctor took his son into his arms, "Arlo, your mother asked you a question and it's important you answer us," immediately Elias looked up to his father, having learned by now that the use of his true name sometimes meant he was going to be in trouble, "What is Clara's secret?"

 _'I told you I can't say. Ally said I couldn't,_ ' Elias repeated his honest statement, ' _Don't be mad with me. You said I should always keep my promise, Daddy. You taught me that._ '

The Doctor sighed and looked at Minerva, "Well, we did teach him that…"

Minerva groaned. "Oh, sure, pick this moment to learn that rule."

The Doctor smiled and kissed her cheek. "We'll just have to solve it the old fashioned way."

Minerva rose to her feet at the sound of a knock on the door, "It's her." They'd landed the TARDIS near Clara's house of the next day to talk to her.

"Come in!" the Doctor called to the Clara as he got up as well.

Clara sheepishly walked into the box, still unable to believe the big trick it played on people from the outside. "Your baby is staring again," she said after noticing Elias long stare on the verge of becoming a frown. "He really hates me that much?"

"No, Elias doesn't hate anyone," the Doctor chuckled and kissed his son's ginger hair. "You're just the first friend to step into the TARDIS for him."

"Mm," Clara wasn't quite sure what that meant, all she knew was that this alien baby just didn't like her.

"So, you didn't answer our question..." Minerva crossed her arms.

"What question?" Clara raised an eyebrow.

"You don't seem like a nanny."

Clara remembered and straightened up, the topic of it still one she preferred not to speak about, but they had saved her life and she owed them, "I was going to travel. I came to stay for a week before I left and during that week…"

"She died," the Doctor realized, "so you're returning the favor. You've got 101 places to see, and you haven't been to any of them, have you? That's why you keep the book."

"I keep the book cos I'm still going," she declared firmly.

 _-We're still going_ \- Ally corrected, getting Clara to smile. Clara had dreamed of seeing the world and, with Ally's help, they made a perfect plan to get that done. Unfortunately, their plans had been deterred.

"But you don't run out on the people you care about. Wish I was more like that," the Doctor playfully rolled his eyes. "You know, the thing about a time machine, you can run away all you like and still be home in time for tea, so what do you say? Anywhere. All of time and space, right outside those doors." He looked at Minerva in case the ginger had suddenly changed her mind about Clara, but it seemed Minerva was all determined to solve the mystery.

"Does this work?" Clara surprised him with a laugh, "Is this actually what you do? Do you just crook your finger and people just jump in your snog box and fly away?"

"For the last time it is not a snog box," declared the Doctor adamantly. Just because it was true did not mean he had to admit it to the stranger.

"I'd ask your son but he's asleep and hates me," Clara crossed her arms, "but I'm still sure of it."

"So what do you say, then?" Minerva asked, a bit impatient. Most people usually jumped on the first opportunity to come along with them to the TARDIS.

"Come back tomorrow, ask me again," Clara stepped backwards for the doors.

"Why?"

"Cos tomorrow, I might say yes," she turned for the doors, "Some time after 7.00 OK for you?"

"It's a time machine, any time's OK," the Doctor shrugged.

"See you then," Clara opened the doors to leave when the Doctor called again.

"Clara?"

"Yup?"

"In your book there was a leaf, why?"

A quirky smile spread across Clara's lips, "That wasn't a leaf, that was page one," she corrected then finally left the blue box.

As she headed for the house, Ally remained just by the TARDIS...looking worried. - _You weren't meant to stay. What are you doing_?- Her plan had completely backfired on her, and now she dreaded what would happen if the aliens discovered the truth about her.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

Ta-da! Now we get the true Clara! And the true 'imaginary friend', hmm...wonder what that's all about... :)

Oh my God can you guys believe that Doctor Who finally comes back next week!? I am so excited to meet Bill and see 12 again! Although I'm not happy this is Capaldi's last season *sniffles*.

 _ **For the Reviews:**_

I am actually writing those chapters right now and it's a bit hilarious for me sometimes, especially between Clara & Elias. I love their dynamic, you'll start seeing that in a bit lol. And ooooh my God I'm dying to write Bill Potts already! I'm honestly already playing with the Hybrid arc by leaving seeds of that arc into the next story (season 8) ;)

No worries, as I said you take your time and read when you want to :) I totally love Elias too he's like my own baby lol. Yeah, I'm completely heart broken to know that 12 basically dies this year. It really does feel like we just got him! Although I'm pretty curious to know who's going to become the 13th Doctor...

* * *

And that's pretty much it for now guys! See you in two weeks! :)


	9. A Killer Sun

Minerva went around the console in frustration, glad that Elias was taking a nap so he wouldn't see her in the state she was. She was still pretty peeved with her son for keeping secrets and she was doing her best not to let it consume. But the fact that a baby - _her_ baby - knew what Clara's mystery secret was and refused to tell her or the Doctor was _very_ frustrating.

"She really does seem like she's just a woman," the Doctor sighed from his spot in front of the monitor. They were looking at a picture of Clara Oswin Oswald - the Victorian governess - and another picture of Oswin Oswald.

They'd taken a trip along Clara's timeline from the moment her parents met to her mother's death at age fifteen in order to see if they could understand how Clara had been in three places at completely different times. Everything seemed perfectly normal...and yet she couldn't be.

"But we both know that's not the case," Minerva scrunched her nose in pure confusion. "Elias keeps repeating she has a secret-"

"But Elias is just a baby after all," the Doctor reminded softly, not that Minerva noticed.

"Are you saying our son is lying to us?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, "He may keep things from us but he would never lie to us."

"No, he wouldn't," agreed the Doctor, "but he's a baby in the end. He could just think this is all one big game he's playing."

"No," Minerva refused to believe her baby was just making things up, "He says Ally told him not to say anything. How could he see Clara's imaginary friend? Imaginary friends are _imaginary_ , they do not _exist_. Only Clara should be able to see her. Which would mean..."

"That Ally is _not_ an imaginary friend," the Doctor nodded.

"Leaving the question of what she is in reality," Minerva wagged a finger. "And why would she pick Clara of all people to reside with? I mean, is it a coincidence that Clara happens to be a woman who had lived and died two times already? Or, does Ally have anything to do with it?"

"Let's not forget that Oswin and Victorian Clara also had 'imaginary' friends," the Doctor crossed his arms.

As they delved more into the present-day Clara and her life, Minerva and the Doctor had recalled that the two previous Claras had also had imaginary friends. Oswin had kept repeating the name 'Citclally', and towards the end the imaginary friend disappeared. Victorian Clara had mentioned 'Holly' as her imaginary friend towards the final moments of her life and how this Holly had disappeared.

"Know what I find weird, though?" Minerva got to thinking. "Apart from everything, anyways. Both imaginary friends just disappeared towards the end, when both Claras were dying. Could it be that's connected?"

"Wouldn't discard that idea," the Doctor tilted his head as he also thought. "But how exactly are we going to research imaginary friends?"

Minerva sighed loudly. "I have no idea."

~ 0 ~

Clara was bubbling with excitement as she made her rounds around the console, listening to the Doctor talk about how they were going go to go where she wanted. She just couldn't actually believe that it was real. She met two aliens - with an alien baby - who actually wanted to take her to see the universe. And for free! Not even Ally could change her mind about it...and boy had Ally tried to.

Clara didn't understand why Ally was so against it. She wondered if this was her subconscious warning her that while the gift of the universe was tempting it was also probably dangerous. It was the only thing Clara could come up with that made sense.

If only she knew.

Ally didn't want Clara to maintain contact with Minerva and the Doctor at all. But how could she explain to Clara her fears without revealing the truth? It was impossible. Which was why now Clara was in the TARDIS.

"So you really mean we're moving through actual time?" Clara stopped at one side of the console, staring down at all the buttons before her. "But what's this made of?" she tapped the edge of the console.

" _She_ ," corrected Minerva from the jumpchair, holding Elias in her arm, "The TARDIS is not an 'it', let's get that straight."

"It's alive?" Clara turned around to her, "Sorry," she blinked when she heard her mistake, " _She's_ alive!?"

"Yes," Minerva nodded, "And she appreciates being called a she, remember that."

"So she can bring us anywhere we want?" Clara made sure of what she'd heard from the Doctor, "Like, anywhere?"

"Anywhere," the Doctor nodded with a smile. It had been long since he'd seen that kind of excitement from someone - Amy, actually. And while it was saddening to remember of the dear Pond, the Doctor felt like Amy would like knowing that they were finally moving on from her death.

"So, we could go backwards in time?" Clara looked up at the flickering lights, momentarily distracted with them.

' _Why doesn't she understand the concept of 'anywhere'_?' Elias asked with eyes stuck on his teddy bear in his hands. He deemed the excitement of the new companion boring and preferred to play with his bear.

"Elias is right, do you understand the concept of 'anywhere'?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, prompting Clara to frown.

"Your baby really dislikes me, why?" she asked.

"Take that up with him, neither of us know that answer," Minerva sighed.

Clara sighed but let it for the moment. She was more interested in the time machine she was currently inside of.

"So, Clara, where do you want to go, eh?" the Doctor asked while rubbing his hands, ready to put in what ever destination she desired, "What do you want to see?"

Clara was so full of emotions she felt like she would explode, but at the moment she opened her mouth to answer...she went quiet.

Ally appeared beside her with arms crossed and a unsurprised face, - _You don't know where you want to go, do you?_ -

Clara shook her head, whispering a 'no' to the answer which now didn't look as weird to the aliens as before. Minerva knew the presence of the 'imaginary friend' was currently in motion.

"Clara?" called the Doctor, also realizing the imaginary friend's presence from Clara's body gestures. "Where do you want to go?"

Clara's eyes looked to the side in thought, "You know when someone asks you your favorite book and you forget every book you've read?"

"Not really..." Minerva glanced at the Doctor, both just not understanding.

"Well," Clara tilted her head, "That's actually a thing. That...happens."

- _Many times for you, really_ \- commented Ally.

"Shush," Clara snapped.

"Talking to the imaginary friend?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Don't sound condescending."

"Sorry," the Doctor straightened up, "Back to the question, then."

"OK. So... So... So…" Clara got to thinking and hurried to the doors as if the place she wanted would be on the other side, "So," she stopped and thought, "I'd like to see... I would like to see... what I would like to see is…"

-If you say 'awesome'...- Ally threw a warning look at Clara but before she could even finish Clara went on.

"I would like to see something _awesome_!"

That seemed to be enough for the Doctor to rush to the console and pick out something 'awesome' for her.

~ 0 ~

Clara was surprised with the world of Akhaten which stood on a chunk of asteroid. The large yellow sun it rotated was completely beautiful and when Clara got to the city itself, she was baffled. It was all _real_. Minerva and the Doctor led her down a market stall avenue so that she could get a better look at what the real city was like.

"Where are they from?" Clara hurried up beside the Doctor to nod at the different kinds of aliens.

"Local system, mostly," Minerva answered instead.

"So what do I call them?"

"Well, let's see," the Doctor took Elias from Minerva and hurried up to some aliens, "There go some Panbabylonians. A Lugal-Irra-Kush," he pointed to the others meanwhile bouncing Elias who responded in tiny sets of giggles, "Some Lucanians. A Hooloovoo. Ah! Qom VoTivig," he did a random greeting to an alien and promptly received one back, "That chap's a Terraberserker of the Kodion Belt. You don't see many of them around anymore. Oh! That's an Ultramancer. You know, I forget how much I like it here, we should come here more often."

"You've been here before?" Clara looked between him and Minerva curiously.

"He came with his granddaughter and I made him come when I was pregnant," Minerva walked ahead of Clara, "it was a hot spot for my cravings."

Clara had become stuck on the 'granddaughter' part and basically ignored anything else, "Hang on, did you say _granddaughter_?" she ran after them, "You have a granddaughter? How many kids do you have?"

"Back up there," Minerva waved a hand to stop Clara from speaking further, "Lots of questions for a person who just got here."

"Sorry," Clara blinked with embarrassment, "You just said granddaughter and my mind went 'woah'. I mean, it's a bit weird enough to say you have him-" she pointed at Elias, "-when he-" she then moved her finger to point at the Doctor, "-still has basically a baby face."

Minerva struggled not to laugh when the Doctor made a noise of offence.

"Rude," went the Time Lord before he turned and walked away to the nearest stall.

"While that was funny-" Minerva tried to say without laughing, "-you should stop asking questions."

"How else do you expect me to learn?" Clara huffed and looked to the side, missing the stunned face on Minerva.

"What did you just say?"

"How else you expect me to learn if I can't ask questions," Clara returned her gaze to the ginger and was surprised to find her looking so confused. "What?"

"Nothing, um, it's just...that's what I say all the time," Minerva smiled to herself, "My entire life, actually. It's one of the first things I said to the Doctor when we met."

"Well, it's true," Clara shrugged, "how else am I supposed to learn your rules if I don't ask questions?"

The smile on Minerva's face didn't wear off, "She was only the granddaughter of the Doctor's," she began to explain and Clara listened, "He was married a first time and Susan was the granddaughter that traveled with him originally. But there was bad things and in the end, Susan died, along with the rest of his family."

"That's so sad," Clara whispered, her eyes wandering to the Doctor who was trying to get Elias to try some sort of food. It didn't look like the Doctor had lost people, but then again people always hid what they felt.

"So to answer your question, I only have two kids - but one of them I didn't carry," Minerva thought that would be the last of that when Clara popped another 'what' for it. "Listen, if I'm gonna tell you our life stories we're gonna be here for a while. C'mon."

They found the Doctor with Elias by some stall that offered very messy food. Minerva was appalled, and yet amused, to find her baby covered in food, "Why is my son covered with exotic blue fruit?" she lifted an eyebrow as she took Elias from the Doctor.

"He said he wanted some," the Doctor shrugged.

"And you listened to the 8 month old baby?" Clara crossed her arms, fairly amused herself.

' _It was really good, Mommy_ ,' Elias tried to say that outloud as well but came out as simple baby babbles, ' _Can I have some more_?'

"Absolutely not," Minerva declared with a shake of her head, "This is exactly why I don't trust your father to feed you on his own," she began walking away while attempting to clean Elias's face with a cloth from her pocket.

"Minerva, c'mon, it was just a little bit of fruit," the Doctor started after her.

Clara tried doing the same when she bumped into a dog-like alien, "Woah!" it immediately began barking and snarling at her.

- _Stay calm_ \- Ally warned her, - _Remember, this is their planet, not ours-_

"Erm, Doctor? Minerva?" Clara called to both aliens. "What's happening? Why's it angry?"

"Clara, what did I say about the 'it'?" Minerva asked as she and the Doctor returned, "She's a she."

"Her name's Dor'een," the Doctor announced.

"Doreen?"

"Loose translation. She sounds a bit grumpy but she's a total love, actually, aren't you?" the Doctor tickled Dor'een under the chin, "Yes, you are. She's just asking if we fancy renting a moped."

Elias instantly extended his little hands towards the moped, excitedly babbling for it.

"Absolutely not," his mother shot down his desire.

"He wants to ride it?" Clara snorted in amusement, "Well, how much does it cost?"

"Don't encourage him," Minerva snapped.

"It's not money they want," the Doctor added much to Minerva's dismay, "The currency here is something valuable. Sentimental value. A photograph, love letter, something like that. That's what's used for currency here. Psychometry. Objects psychically imprinted with their history. The more treasured they are, the more value they hold."

Clara scowled at the idea, "That's horrible."

"Better than using bits of paper."

- _He's got you there_ \- Ally laughed much to Clara's annoyance.

"Then you pay," she challenged the Doctor.

"With what?"

"You're a thousand years old. You must have something you care about."

"They don't accept people," the Doctor said the obvious and received a sharp look from his wife.

"Hey!"

"Not that I would ever attempt to trade you off," he quickly assured.

Minerva shook her head and went off on her own, "We really need to get you cleaned," she mumbled to Elias.

Elias was rubbing his small face joyfully and got small tastes of the fruit the Doctor had given him. The Doctor caught up with them and took his son back. Minerva instantly noticed they were short one brunette and began looking around.

"Doctor, where'd you leave Clara at?" she asked eventually.

"Hm?" the Doctor hadn't realized Clara wasn't with him, but he wasn't very surprised either, "Companions always wander off."

"So, she's a companion now?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"Still on high alert, though," the Doctor made it certain, "But no, she's not a full, full, companion. But c'mon, you have to give credit, Clara's not that bad."

"Course not, she's witty," Minerva smiled. "You know what she said to me?"

"Hmm?"

"She said 'how am I supposed to learn if I don't ask questions'"

The Doctor laughed. "Boy does that take me back!"

"I'm starting to think that Clara's not the real enemy but in fact that imaginary friend of her. I mean, how do you fight something that's invisible?"

"We've done so before with Vincent, remember? We could just use Clara if it comes to that."

"I don't know," Minerva sighed, "None of this sits well with me."

"Hey, everything will be alright," the Doctor stopped her and proceeded to pepper-kiss her entire face until she chuckled.

"Idiot," she battered his him away and walked off.

"But I'm _your_ idiot!" the Doctor called as he hurried after, chuckling as Elias decided to giggle at his parents comical exchanges of words.

~ 0 ~

The amphitheater chosen as the spot for the festival was far too crowded and yet it was not a problem for the group of travelers to squeeze in and take their seats within the audience.

As Clara got comfortable in her spot beside Minerva, she looked around to all the different kinds of aliens near her, "Are we even supposed to be here?" she had to ask.

"Shh," Minerva said.

"But are we?"

"Shh!" the Doctor said next.

Clara sighed, "But-"

The next Shush came from Elias, which didn't really sound like 'shh' since he had no teeth yet. Still, Clara understood perfectly and blinked at the baby, stunned.

Elias had a look for her as well and it was not one of like.

He really did not like Clara.

Merry Gejelh, the Queen of Years of Akhaten, soon began her offering in the form of a beautiful song. And even though Clara knew it was rude, she went ahead and quietly asked, "What's going on?"

The Doctor was all informed with a small flyer he held in his hands and replied to her in an equally quiet voice, "They're singing to the Akhaten in the Temple. They call it the Old God. Sometimes Grandfather."

"But what are they singing?" Clara asked and glanced at Merry to see how she was doing.

- _Clara, you're not letting me hear_ \- Ally hissed. Clara shot her a look but listened to the Doctor nonetheless.

"The Long Song. A lullaby without end. To feed the old god. Keep him asleep. It's been going for millions of years. Chorister handing over to Chorister. Generation after generation after generation."

Elias loudly squealed as he saw bits of golden light flowing from the audience towards the pyramid Merry was singing to. He wanted to touch it!

"What are they doing?" Clara also looked up, eyes wide with curiosity.

"Those are offerings," Minerva was able to answer through her struggle to calm Elias down before he got too loud, "Gifts of value."

"Mementoes to feed the Old God," added the Doctor.

Elias flapped his hands above his head as if trying to reach the light, his hands opening and closing repeatedly. Clara laughed at the action and happened to see her imaginary friend standing below watching them all with a big smile. The beautiful song came to an abrupt ending when they heard the faint echoing of a rumble. Merry turned around on her platform and looked at the audience, everyone else sensing something wasn't right either. Suddenly, an orange force field wrapped itself around the young Queen and lifted her off her pedestal.

Clara's eyes widened and immediately stood up, "Okay, what's happening? Is this supposed to happen!?"

"Help!" Merry called to the audience but no one seemed to do anything.

Clara angrily looked at the people around her, "Is somebody going to do something? Excuse me? Is somebody going to help her?" in the meantime of her questions Minerva and the Doctor ran down the rows of the audiences, "Hey!" Clara called after them and began following. She eventually caught them not too far out of the amphiteather, "Why are we walking away?" she demanded furiously, "We can't just walk away. This is my fault! I talked her into doing this!"

The Doctor stopped walking and returned to her while Minerva remained where she was, "Listen, there's one thing you need to know about travelling with us - well, apart from the other things I've said."

"We never walk away," Minerva firmly told her from her spot, " _Ever_."

With more belief in them, Clara followed them up to Do'reen's rental stall. Upon exchanging odd barks and snarls, the Doctor regretted to say, "We need something precious."

Clara crossed her arms and looked at them to do something, "You must have something, all the places you've seen."

"Yeah, this," the Doctor pulled out his sonic, "And I can't exactly give my baby away, nor my wife."

Elias babbled his agreement with a tiny frown across his lips, slightly offended his father would even think about trading him for a moped - even though said moped was kind of cool.

"You're 1,000 years old. And that's it, your spanner, wife and kid?" Clara raised an eyebrow, unable to believe such a statement.

"Well…" Mineva began, her free hand drifting to her silver necklace fastened around her neck, "...perhaps there's something _I_ can give."

The Doctor saw her hand over the necklace and immediately shook his head, "No! Absolutely not!"

"We don't have much time," Minerva reminded, "So it's either my necklace or Elias, pick one."

Elias now had stern eyes on his father, ' _Daddy, I'm not for trading_ ,' he declared in a pouty tone.

The Doctor lightly chuckled at his son's remark and tickled Elias's chin, "I know, of course you're not."

"Okay, then, it's my necklace," Minerva handed Elias over to the Doctor and began undoing her necklace.

"Take care of it," the Doctor told Do'reen as she was handed the necklace, "I worked really hard on that."

"That was big of you," remarked Clara to Minerva.

Minerva scoffed, or at least tried to genuinely scoff, "What? It's just a necklace…"

"I don't think it was," Clara said sadly.

- _Don't push_ \- warned Ally beside her.

The necklace was accepted as full payment and so the group piled on the moped as best as possible and headed after Merry. Unfortunately, Merry was swiped away by the force field into the pyramid. Landing was no easy job and thankfully no one was hurt. While Clara held a dangerous grip around Minerva, Elias squealed and giggled excitedly in her arms, rambling in babbles about the fun ride on the moped.

"Clara, let go you're killing me!" Minerva exclaimed and finally Clara released the ginger.

' _Can we go again!? Can we go again!? Can we go again!?_ ' Elias bounced on his mother's lap as she began to get off the moped.

"He is so your son," she handed him off to the Doctor, unamused about Elias's pleads.

She managed to take the sonic screwdriver from him and went up to the shut door. After a couple of attempts, she took a look at the examination remarks, "Hm, there's a modulated acoustic lock. The stupid key changes ten million, zillion, squillion times a second."

"Can you open it?" Clara asked and went up beside her.

"Probably not, but that really doesn't mean anything to us, does it dear?" Minerva glanced at the Doctor.

"Nope," he agreed.

"Cos did we mention we're really clever?" Minerva couldn't help the smirk she wore, "The door's key may be changing but I don't see any deadlock nor wood around here."

Clara didn't know what she meant but she just knew they were going to eventually get in and that's all she cared about. So in the meantime the two got to work, she started to pace behind them, "So how can those people out there just stand there and watch all this happen?"

"Because this is sacred ground," the Doctor took a turn on the his sonic.

"And she's a child!"

"But this is their God, Clara," Minerva glanced back, "These are their beliefs they must never trample on. Believe me, alright? Religion is always a powerful thing."

- _She's right_ \- Ally appeared beside Clara.

Suddenly, they heard Merry screaming from the other side which provoked them to get a move on with their breaking and entering.

"Oh! Hello!" the Doctor beamed at his sonic and promptly handed Elias to Minerva.

"Hello what?" she questioned.

"The sonic's locked on to the acoustic tumblers."

"Meaning?" Clara raised an eyebrow.

"Meaning, I get to do this," the Doctor took a step back and aimed the sonic on the door, making it rise open. As it went up, he maintined the sonic above him to keep the door open.

Minerva quickly went inside and held a hand for the girl, "Hello there. I'm Minerva, this is my son, Elias, and that's the Doctor. You've met Clara, we heard. She was supposed to be having a nice day out."

The Doctor turned off the sonic thinking it'd be alright but was sadly mistaken as the door began closing. He quickly turned the sonic back on and continued holding it up, "And we really would like for you to come out," he added hastily, "Because, as it's very clear, the door is immensely heavy."

Merry shook her head and motioned for them to get out, "Leave! You'll wake him!"

"Really quite extraordinarily heavy," the Doctor reminded, "Clara?" he was forced to drop onto one knee due to the strength of the door.

"Uh-huh?" Clara looked down at him curiously until she realized she was meant to go inside, "Oh, sorry!" she went up to the dais and took a moment to look at the mummy, "Eugh!" she turned to Merry and reached for the girl, "Merry, we need to leave."

"No! Go away!" Merry backed away.

"Not without you," Clara declared.

"You said I wouldn't get it wrong and then I got it wrong! And now this has happened. Look what's happened!"

"You didn't get it wrong."

"How do you know? You don't know anything! You have to go! Go now! Or he'll eat us all."

"Well, he's ugly," Clara glanced back to the mummy, "But, you know, to be honest, I don't think he looks big enough."

"Not our meat. Our _souls_."

"Well that sounds lovely," Minerva sighed, "Merry, we really need to go."

"He doesn't want you," Merry clarified to them all and when Clara tried to reach for her again she pinned the brunette against the glass, "If you don't leave, he'll eat you all up too."

"Yes and you don't want that, do you?" asked Minerva again, "You want us to walk out of this really quite astonishingly heavy door and never come back."

"Yes," the girl nodded.

"Well, hm, dear what do you think?" Minerva glanced back at the Doctor.

"Absolutely never going to happen," the Doctor declared and finally let the door lock. He quickly hurried inside the room with the sonic in hand.

From her spot at the dais, Clara sighed deeply, "Did you just lock us in?" she called to the Doctor.

"You did just see the door locking, no?" Minerva raised an eyebrow at her.

"But we're with the soul-eating monster!"

"Yes, we gathered," the Doctor came up beside Minerva, putting an arm around her waist and tickling Elias over the head, not too concern.

"And is there actually a way to get out?" asked Clara.

' _Why does she want to leave? Doesn't she want to see the cool mummy?_ ' Elias looked up at his parents.

"Exactly," the Doctor pointed at him.

"Did he just say something bad about me?" Clara wasn't even surprised anymore the baby would go against her.

"Not really," Minerva shook her head, "at least not something bad this time."

Clara's eyes drifted to the singing priest who hadn't stopped singing since they arrived, "Why is he still singing?"

"Because he has hope," Minerva said as she and the Doctor went around the priest.

The Doctor knelt down in front of the priest while explaining to Clara, "He's trying to sing the Old God back to sleep. It's not going to happen. He's waking up, mate. He coming, ready or not. You want to run."

"Holy head and…" the priest breathed in heavily and raised his head.

"That's it, then? Song's over?"

"The song is over," the priest stood up, "My name is Chorister Rezh Baphix, and the Long Song ended with me," he pushed up his sleeve and pressed a button of a bracelet he wore then dissipated into the air.

"And now we can focus on the mummy," Minerva turned to the glass case. Elias pushed himself in her arms towards the glass, clearly intent on touching it, "Absolutely not," she scolded him but even that didn't stop him.

Just as the Doctor turned to examine the God and its casing, said God...woke up.

"Ha ha!" the Doctor childishly cried and rushed up to the case, "Look at that!"

- _Clara you need to get away from it_ \- Ally appeared just beside the brunette who was still stuck, - _It's_ _going to kill you_ -

"We need to get away from it," Clara repeated Ally's words for the others.

"Ah! Ah!" Elias had taken delivery of crying out for his mother or father to take him up to the case.

"Unbelievable," Minerva stared at her son, genuinely stunned he was pushing himself forwards. The bloody mummy didn't scare him!

Then again his father was currently pressed up against the glass case like it was the most exciting thing in the world.

"You've woken him," Merry shuddered a breath at the moving God.

"It's awake?" Clara froze, "What's it doing?"

"Oh, you know, having a nice stretch," Minerva tried to keep the nerves of Clara down.

"Ally, is it awake?" Clara then asked Ally.

- _Well…_ \- Ally backed down the steps while looking at the mummy, - _In a sense...perhaps...maybe...yes?_ -

"Liars!" Clara shrieked in terror.

"Well, did you really want us to tell you?" Minerva countered with, "We woke up a God and he's probably going to eat you first since you're stuck on the glass!?"

"Oh we didn't wake him," the Doctor corrected her then pointed at Merry, "And you didn't wake him, either. He's waking because it's his time to wake. And feed. On you, apparently. On your stories."

"She didn't say stories, she said souls," Clara said quickly through her terror and confusion.

"Same thing," Minerva corrected her now, "The soul's made of stories, not atoms. Everything that ever happened to us. People we love. People we lost. People we found again, against all the odds. He threatens to wake, they offer him a pure soul. The soul of the Queen of Years."

"Stop it," Clara snapped, "You're scaring her. Is this how you talk to your son?"

"If he was about to stupidly sacrifice himself to a God while knowing nothing of what that means...of course I would."

"Well he doesn't look too scared to me!" Clara nodded to the baby who was still endeavoring to get himself to the glass.

"Elias!" Minerva exclaimed.

"Ah! Ah!" he held out his hands to the cage, as if that would get him closer, "Ah! Ah! Ah!"

"Well Elias certainly doesn't know what he'd be getting himself into," the Doctor turned to the group, forcing himself not to laugh at his son's antics, "Do you Merry?"

"A God chose me," Merry managed to whisper through her fear.

"It's not a god! It'll feed on your soul, but that doesn't make it a god. It is a vampire," he pointed at Akhaten behind, "And you don't need to give yourself to it. Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story?" he came down the steps up to Merry, "One you might not have heard? All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago, in the heart of a far away star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolation of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing-wax and cabbages and kings. Until eventually, they came together to make you. You're unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Gejelh. And there will never be another. Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste."

Merry looked up at him nervously, "So, if I don't, then everyone else…"

"Will be fine," Minerva answered her fearful question with a small smile.

"How?"

"There's always a way," Minerva assured.

"You promise?" Merry glanced between Minerva and the Doctor.

"Cross our hearts," the Doctor mocked a cross across his chests then held a hand for Merry.

Merry took it and finally released Clara from the telepathic hold. Just as Clara left the glass, Akhaten was able to crack the glass case.

"C'mon," Minerva forcefully took a fussy Elias back to the group.

"My son indeed," the Doctor chuckled and kiss Elias's head, "We gotta go, El, but I promise we'll take you to meet a good mummy. One that doesn't want to feed on us."

Elias seemed to take the deal and instantly quieted down. They headed for the door but the entire place shook violently and stopped them.

"What's that!?" Minerva cried in the midst of the shake.

"It's the Vigil," Merry informed.

"And what's the vigil?" the Doctor asked.

"If the Queen of Years is unwilling to be feasted upon it's their job to feed her to Grandfather."

Several creatures appeared in front of the dais, seemingly ready to attack. The Doctor pulled out his sonic to use against them as they advanced.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Merry cried and backed away.

"We need a way out now," Minerva looked around for said escape.

"Yeah, stay back. I'm armed. With a screwdriver," the Doctor decided to threaten the creatures.

The sonic was blown from his hand and he was flipped over to the ground. Minerva and Clara were slammed against the wall, leaving Merry on her own. Elias, as expected of a baby, began to cry for his parents.

Clara was the first to come around and saw the sonic on the floor and scrambled to go get it, "Doctor? Minerva?" she called to the aliens.

- _Clara, just press the button there!_ \- Ally shouted at her while pointing to the screwdriver.

Without a clue as to what it was going to do, Clara activated the sonic against the creatures and created a force field to block them.

- _Get the baby! And wake them up!_ \- Ally ordered next and Clara did.

"Okay, c'mon," Clara picked up the crying Elias. As soon as he was in her arms he fussed even more and battered her to be returned to his mother, "Elias, I'm just trying to-"

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" he began to cry frantically.

Clara was in over head and began shaking Minerva, "Wake up right now! Your baby is completely mad!"

"Don't insult my baby…" came the slurred scolding from Minerva.

' _Mommy! Mommy! Tell her to put me down! I don't like her!_ "

Minerva blinked awake and became alert, "Elias! Doctor!" she jerked upright. She took back her baby and stood up just as the Doctor came around as well.

Clara didn't wait for the two aliens to recompile herself. She went for Merry, "You know all the stories. You must know if there's another way out."

Merry nodded in agreement, "There's the tale. A secret song. "The Thief of the Temple and the Nimmer's Door"."

"And the secret songs open the secret door? How does it go? Can you sing it?"

- _It's here, Clara_ \- Ally came threw a certain part of the wall, - _She has to sing_ _it_ -

"Sing it," Clara ordered Merry.

Merry took a breath before singing the secret song. Where Ally had walked through the door began to slide open. Clara took Merry's hand and rushed for the door. Minerva and the Doctor went after them, knowing the force field of the sonic wouldn't be able to block the Vigil forever - especially since the sonic had been deactivated.

Once on the other side of the door, the Doctor shut the door with the sonic. Still, from their side, they heard Akhaten Vigil reappeared on their side, ready to attack. However, just like they appeared this disappeared.

"Enemy who leaves like that means nothing good will happen," Minerva shuddered a breath and held Elias closer.

"Where did they go?" Clara blinked.

"Grandfather's awake. They're of no function any more," the Doctor said, suddenly stiffening in his spot.

- _He's made a mistake_ \- Ally accused with her arms crossed.

"Ally says you made a mistake...is that true?" Clara raised an eyebrow.

"Ally reads minds now?" Minerva remarked with a sharp look.

"No time to question my imaginary friend now," Clara nodded to the Doctor who'd remained quiet.

"I think I may have made a tactical boo-boo. More of a semantics mix-up, really," the Doctor turned around to face them.

Minerva sighed, " _What_ boo-boo?" her tone was the same authoritative one she used on Elias when he was scolded.

"I thought the Old God was Grandfather but he wasn't. It was just the Grandfather's alarm clock."

Minerva closed her eyes, "Tell me it's not…"

"What? What isn't?" Clara asked, "And who's the Old God? Is there an Old God?"

"Unfortunately, yes," the Doctor slowly looked back at the large sun in the sky, almost seeming as if it were expanding.

"Oh we are _all_ idiots this time," Minerva swallowed hard as she laid eyes on the sun.

"What do we do?" Clara nudged Minerva frantically.

"Against that? I don't know," the Doctor nearly scoffed, "Do you know? I don't know. Any ideas?"

"But you promised! You promised!" accused Merry.

' _You said you have to keep promises, Daddy,'_ Elias reminded.

"I know, I know," the Doctor waved a hand at the baby.

"He'll eat us all. He'll spread across the system, consuming the Seven Worlds," Merry began in a quick pace, "And when there's no more to eat, he'll embark on a new odyssey among the stars."

"I say leg it," declared Clara, really unsure of how that would go.

"Leg it where, exactly?" Minerva looked at her, scowling.

"Don't know. Lake District?"

"Oh, the Lake District's lovely," the Doctor said in a tangent, "Let's definitely go there. We can eat scones. They do great scones in 19...27."

Ally sighed beside Clara, - _They are so going to fight it_ -

Clara slowly looked at the pair, "Ally says you're going to fight it. Is that true?"

"Regrettably, yes," Minerva kissed Elias's head and handed him to Clara, "And even more regrettably, we have no choice but to trust you with our son."

"What?" Clara blinked as she was once again handed a baby who clearly disliked her, "But I'm staying with you."

"No, you're not," the Doctor shook his head and also kissed Elias's head.

"Yes, I am. I can... assist?" Clara scowled, pretending as if Elias wasn't digging his small, but incredibly sharp, nails into her wrist.

"No, you can't," Minerva clarified.

"What about that stuff you said? "We don't walk away.""

"That's still intact," Minerva shrugged, " _We_ don't walk away."

"But when we're holding on to something precious, we run," the Doctor added, his gaze glued to his son while he said that, "We run and run as fast as we can and we don't stop running until we're out from under the shadow. Now, off you pop. Take the moped."

"And if anything happens to…" Minerva trailed off but Clara knew what she meant and nodded, "Go back to the TARDIS and put it on auto. She'll show you how. You'll end up on my planet. Just tell them what happened, they'll keep Elias and take you home."

Clara didn't like one bit of that plan, "Right, about the box, I don't think she likes me-"

"Doesn't matter," Minerva cut her off, "She'll do it for Elias. He'd be her next pilot."

' _I don't want to go!_ ' Elias also voiced his dislike of the plan, ' _I wanna stay! Let_ _me stay please!_ ' and he began crying.

But his parents sent him off anyways.

~ 0 ~

Slowly, Minerva and the Doctor went to face the large sun (God). Neither was truly prepared nor could see what would happen, but it was agreed neither would give up.

"Are there any actual ideas you have?" Minerva whispered to the Doctor, gripping his hand without noticing.

"Em...well...no, not really," the Doctor saw no point in lying to her.

"Well then," Minerva took a breath as they stopped at the edge of the temple, with perfect view of the sun god, "Here we go."

Singing began carrying over to them, and while faint it was enough to inspire an idea.

"OK, then. That's what I'll do," the Doctor said with rapid blinking eyes, "I'll tell you a story."

"What?" Minerva asked, concerned when he left her behind, "Martian what are you doing?"

"What I always do," he shrugged, "tell a story."

"Now wait a minute, what are-"

"Just let me try this okay?" he glanced back, "And stay back."

Distraught, Minerva tried to plead for her case, "But it can hurt you and-"

"Just let me try," the Doctor insisted and so Minerva gave in. With a smile, he turned to face the sun and got straight to work, "Can you hear them? All these people who've lived in terror of you and your judgment?" he called out to the sun, "All these people whose ancestors devoted themselves. Sacrificed themselves. To you. Can you hear them singing? You like to think you're a god. But you're not a god. You're just a parasite eaten out with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow. So... come on, then. Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you've got a big appetite. Because I've lived a long life and I've seen a few things."

Minerva was horrified to see God literally sucking the life out of her husband. She moved to run for him but if she did she would bring down the plan. The Doctor had lived for centuries and with all the stories he had, he could bring down the God. She hoped.

"I walked away from the Last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords.I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time. No space. Just me. I've walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a madman. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I've lost things you'll never understand. And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze. So come on then! Take it! Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all!"

Minerva had half a mind to push him out of the way before the God could take him but she saw the God begin to grow darker, and expand as if it were close to exploding. That meant it was working...right?

The Doctor dropped to his knees with a heavy pant. Minerva finally ran to his side and checked to see if he was alright, "I don't think it worked," she whispered tearfully, "Maybe I can try…"

"Don't you dare," he managed to warn her in his usual tone.

"But look at it," she gently turned his gaze to the sun, "it didn't work. I've lived long too, maybe not done a lot of things but I can-"

"Please don't," he nearly begged her, "If it didn't work with me it probably won't for you."

"But maybe with me it will," Clara made her entrance slowly, and nervously, holding her traveling book.

Minerva glared viciously, "Where the hell is my son?" she demanded.

"He is okay, I promise," Clara nodded and continued, "Still hungry?" she called out to the sun, "Well, I brought something for you. This," she pulled out the orange leaf that basically created her entire story, "The most important leaf in human history. It's full of stories, full of history. And full of a future that never got lived. Days that should have been that never were. Passed on to me. This leaf isn't just the past, it's a whole future that never happened. There are billions and millions of unlived days for every day we live. An infinity. All the days that never came. And these are all my mum's."

Minerva helped the Doctor stand just as the Old God sent out tendrils for Clara's leaf.

"Well, come on then. Eat up," the Doctor called out, "Are you full? I expect so because there's quite a difference, isn't there, between what was and what should have been? There's an awful lot of one, but there's an infinity of the other. And infinity's too much. Even for your appetite."

- _You did the right thing, Clara_ \- Ally rubbed a hand on Clara's back as the brunette teared up with her leaf gone. - _Your mother would have been proud-_

In the end, the Old God imploded and left everything in darkness. It had been the right thing.

~ 0 ~

Clara waited for the TARDIS to materialize before she peered out the door to see the Maitland's home. She frowned.

- _What is it?_ \- asked Ally beside her.

"It looks different."

"Nope. Same house. Same city. Same planet," Minerva read off the monitor sounding surprised, and thus missed the fact Clara had been talking with Ally. "I have to congratulate you, Doctor. Least she wasn't 6 months late."

The Doctor ignored the look she had for him, "It was a mistake, I told you," he repeated.

Clara had taken a moment to really study them from the doorway, and then she remembered, "You were there," she accused the pair, making them look at her, "At my Mum's grave. You were watching. What were you doing there?"

Immediately, everything had quieted down with the aliens, even Elias knew it was best to stay nice and quiet. He was in his babywalker and was fiddling with his teddy bear's buttons.

"Don't pretend you weren't because I remember perfectly," Clara warned and glanced at her side, "I remember everything about that day."

Ally placed a hand on Clara's shoulder and smiled softly, - _It's okay, it's okay_ -

"We were just making sure…" Minerva whispered, but was perfectly heard by Clara.

"Of what?" she demanded.

The Doctor looked at her along with Minerva, "You remind us of someone."

"Who?"

"Someone who died."

"Well, whoever she was, I'm not her, OK?" Clara scowled a little, "If you want me to travel with you, that's fine. But as me. Not a bargain basement stand-in for someone else. I not going to compete with a ghost."

"That's fair," Minerva conceded quietly, "Completely fair."

Clara gave a nod and finally left the blue box. She headed on home still rather crossed about the small lie of the cemetery.

- _You can't be accusing them of things_ \- Ally walked beside her, hands in pockets, - _You were putout from that day. It could've just been imagination_ -

"No, I know," Clara stood her ground, "I remember everything from that day," she glanced at Ally smiling, "It's the day I got my imaginary friend back."

Ally smiled back, - _And it's the day I got_ _ **you**_ _back_ -

~ 0 ~

"Okay, it's time for bed, Elias," Minerva called out to the babbling baby in the baby-walker. He was busy telling his teddy bear everything that had happened at Akhaten, even though most of his physical words were 'bah, bah,' and 'ah, ah'.

"Minerva, I have something for you," the Doctor walked over to her as she picked Elias up from the baby-walker. He held out her silver necklace which she'd traded in.

Her eyes shined at the sight of it back with them, "Why do you have it? Did you steal it?"

"No," he chuckled, "The people wanted you to have it back. We saved their home so they figured it was alright."

"Ooh," she reached out for her necklace and held it close to her, "Thank God. I am never trading it again, no matter who's in trouble."

"Here," the Doctor took it again and moved behind her. He pushed her hair to the side and placed the necklace around her neck, "Beautiful, as always," he kissed her cheek and returned to the front.

Elias immediately started playing with the pendant, once again babbling to himself. It seemed like he was beginning to develop his speaking skills - perhaps the first word was soon to come.

"There's a good story behind that necklace, El," the Doctor stepped closer to Minerva and the baby.

Elias looked up at his father with familiar, rapid blinking, green eyes, "Ah?"

"Would you like to hear how I gifted it to your mother for her birthday?"

Elias excitedly clapped his hands then reached out for the Doctor to take him, ' _I want to hear! Tell me the story, daddy!_ '

"He has to go to sleep," Minerva whispered to the Doctor as he handed Elias over.

"And what's bedtime with a bedtime story?" the Doctor countered with, lightly bouncing the baby who giggled in response.

"Why that one, though? He doesn't want to hear about that."

' _Yes I do, Mommy_ ,' Elias argued back, ' _I like the stories about you and Daddy._ '

"You do?" Minerva tickled his stomach, chuckling.

' _Yes! I want to know them all!'_

"See?" the Doctor gave her a kiss on the lips, "I'm only telling him what he wants to hear."

"Fine," Minerva ushered him off, "But don't exaggerate nor lie," she warned with a wagging finger.

"What? You mean I can't tell him how gorgeous you looked on your birthday?"

Minerva rolled her eyes though nonetheless blushed, "Shut up."

' _It was Mommy's birthday!?_ ' Elias quickly asked, now even more interested in hearing the story.

The Doctor winked at Minerva before heading off for the corridors, "It wasn't precisely your Mommy's birthday but at the time we thought it was," he continued telling Elias the story, "and I wanted to give her the best present in the world. So I made the necklace…"

Minerva shook her head while smiling at the story she knew so perfectly. She let him put Elias to bed on his own so Elias could hear the story just like he wanted to. He sure did love to hear about the past. And the Doctor sure loved to show off for Elias in his stories.

It was a win, win for both.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

Sooo I'm sorry for the late update. Finals are approaching and that means all the final projects are starting to come by lol. Still, here you are with this chapter to start off Clara's and Ally's adventures. Oh my god guys have you seen season 10? I LOVE LOVE LOVE Bill Potts so much aka the sweetest, cutest companion to ever ask the most realistic questions at 12. I LOVE HER!

 ** _For the Reviews:_**

I can confirm that is not the case lol. Duuuuuude I am loving season 10 so far and I can't wait to see how Missy & the Master brought back. Considering Minerva and the Doctor have been married for centuries now - and because they have known each other since the very beginning - I would think Minerva does know why the Doctor originally left Gallifrey. When you say prophecy do you mean the Hybrid prophecy? I mean, if the next Doctor does turn out to be a woman then I guess Minerva would change into a man because of the Moontsay link trying to balance them out. Hmm did you catch the fact there was _no_ woman in the shop in this version? Because as we recall Ally was the one that had gotten Clara to call Minerva and the Doctor. When Missy returns (because she WILL return) it'll be for a very different reason that doesn't focus much on Clara. I haven't watched classic Doctor Who so I wouldn't be sure about writing classic who characters at the moment.

Ahaha you'll freak when you figure it out ;D And oooooh my god for real? I never watched that movie before lmao but Capaldi was in it? Damn now I'm curious xD

* * *

Well that's about it folks. Next update will be on time lol next week! :)


	10. The Martian

"I don't even like Casinos," grumbled Minerva as she followed the Doctor around the console, "Why are we going again?"

"Because Elias wanted to," went the Doctor in response.

Elias, who was in his baby-walker and pretty busy playing with Roger, his teddy bear, looked up with a small frown on his face, ' _No I didn't_ ,' he defended himself rather crossly.

Minerva crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the Doctor. Alarmed, the Doctor looked down at the baby, "You're supposed to be on _my_ side!" he exclaimed, "Boys against girls, remember?"

"Arlo?" Minerva called without once lifting her gaze off the Doctor.

' _I'm on Mommy's side_ ,' the baby quickly covered his eyes, as if to avoid being brought into any more conflicts, ' _Sorry, Daddy_.'

"Traitor," the Doctor playfully hissed at the baby.

"Doctor, I don't like the idea of my baby going to a casino where there's all these bad influences," Minerva sighed. "Can't we just tell Clara to pick another place?"

"I think it's a bit late for that," the Doctor glanced at the threshold of the corridor to check if Clara was back yet. "Once they enter the wardrobe there's no coming back."

Minerva had to agree there and resigned herself to their new proposed destination.

"Um, I swear I wasn't being nosy," Clara nervously came into the room, dressed in a light blue dress fit for Vegas, and holding a picture frame that was broken at one end, "I was just looking for clothes and then I heard this drop. I'm so sorry," she handed it over to Minerva.

The Doctor moved closer to Minerva to get a look at the picture. But when he saw what it was the only thing he wanted to do was throw the frame into a black hole.

' _Who's that, Mommy_?' Elias frantically tried nearing his parents but his feet were unable to push him there.

Minerva had fallen quiet when she'd seen the picture, but at the sound of her son's voice she looked up, "This is...my adoptive mother," she glanced at Elias, "Technically, she'd be your adoptive grandmother."

"Adoptive mother?" Clara raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she was my mother on Earth."

"No, she wasn't," the Doctor plucked the frame out of Minerva's hand, "Sophia never deserved that name."

"Doctor, please," Minerva reached for the frame but the Doctor raised his arm and held it up high.

"Why do you even have this?" he asked, sounding rather disappointed.

Minerva shrugged, "I don't know, maybe because I...I still have hope-"

"Oh, not this again," the Doctor lowered his arm down and sighed at his wife, "Clever Girl, why do you do this to yourself? This woman is not your mother. She does not deserve your efforts."

"It's hard hating the person that raised you..."

"But she only raised up until you were, what? Fourteen?"

"Doctor, please..."

Clara watched the argument go back and forth and couldn't help wonder what the story was behind this 'Sophia' person. But she did notice that Elias had taken to staring at the picture frame the Doctor was holding up high in the air. His small hands flexed as he tried reaching it from his spot while shouting his 'Ahs' to his parents, clearly wanting to know more about the woman who was apparently his grandmother. Minerva saw it too, eventually, and suddenly had an idea.

But it was an idea the Doctor would not know about. She would carry it on her own. She had to.

~ 0 ~

In a chaotic, sinking submarine the crewmen were desperately trying to ease their situation. They had quite the distraction when a big, blue box materialized in their control room.

The Doctor flung open the doors, wearing sunglasses, and shouted, "Viva Las Vegas!" but with the submarine lurching the Time Lord was pushed out and fell against a wall of control panels. Seconds later, Minerva and Clara fell through next.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Elias frantically patted his head as water rushed down over him and everyone else.

"Intruder on the bridge!" a crewman exclaimed, alarmed.

"Who the hell are you?" the Captain suspiciously eyed the new arrivals.

The Doctor no longer saw anything through his wet glasses and pulled them off. Minerva elbowed him in the ribs, doing her best to keep Elias dry even though it was virtually impossible, "This is not Vegas!"

"No," he agreed, "this is much better!" he brushed some wet hair off his forehead.

Ally appeared beside Clara with a look on the Doctor, - _The man's an idiot_ \- she declared.

Clara was more than terrified to see their situation, "A sinking submarine?"

"A sinking _Soviet_ submarine!" the Doctor cheered.

Ally raised an eyebrow, - _Correction, he's a **moron**_ -

One of the crewmen, Stepashin shouted, "Break out side arms! Restrain them!"

Another member, Onegin, started reading out the sea level depths, reminding them of the true problem at hand, "410. 420! Turbines still not responding!"

"They've got to!" the Captain quickly turned to the controls.

The Doctor started taking readings of the depths and ship with the sonic, "Ah! Sideways momentum! You've still got sideways momentum!"

The Captain glanced back, "What?"

"Your propellers work independently of the main turbines. You can't stop her going down but you can manoeuvre the sub laterally! Do it!"

"Get these people off the bridge now!" Stepashin told the nearby crewmen.

Two of them came for the Doctor but Minerva stepped forwards, "ENOUGH!" she screamed and made them all quiet down, "Doctor?" she motioned him to take Elias from her.

The Doctor knew what she intended to do and had to make one interjection, "Minerva, I don't think that'll bring us any good."

"I don't care, it's going to save their lives," Minerva dismissed the statement without a care in the world, "Everybody stand still!" she ordered. Without waiting another second Minerva held open her arms and thrust her hands forwards, successfully making the entire ship stop.

"What did she just do?" Clara remained in awe at their sudden stop, her entire gaze stuck on the one ginger.

"Iced it," Minerva grinned for a second, "Entire ship's stuck on ice. _But_ -" she turned to the Captain and the other crewmen, "-ice won't stop this forever, I need you to listen carefully so we can stop the descent altogether. Understand?" but the men were equally puzzled as Clara was. Minerva deeply sighed, "Geographical anomaly to starboard - probably an underwater ridge-"

At that the Captain had to stop her, "How do you know this?"

"I _learned_ ," Minerva gestured to the Doctor beside her, "Duh."

Elias momentarily forgot about the water still hitting his head and clapped his hands excitedly, ' _Mommy's smart!_ '

The Doctor agreed with a smile, "Clever she is. Now then," he rose his voice to the crewmen, "We have just a chance to stop the descent if we settle on it. Do it!"

"Because sooner or later the ice underneath us will crumble," Minerva warned, "And then the ship will implode."

The Captain felt like he had no choice but to take a chance, "Lateral thrust to starboard - all propellers!"

"Sir?" Onegin looked surprised the man was taking instructions from strangers.

"Now!"

Stepashin was also in denial, "You're going to let this madman give the orders?"

"Lateral thrust!" the Captain insisted.

"Aye, sir!" Onegin finally listened and did as told.

"Ice crumbling," Minerva warned as the ship began rocking again, "Careful…" she felt the Doctor pulled her closer. She just cared about his hold on Elias.

"660...680…" Onegin read outloud, the ship now in full descent again. Buy just as planned, the submarine stopped - it crashed on the ridge but stopped.

"Told you," Minerva flashed a smirk at the men.

Onegin read the final descent of the ship, "Descent arrested at...700 metres."

The Captain was one to recognize good work and so turned to the group, "It seems we owe you our lives - whoever you are."

"I'll hold you to that. Might come in handy!" the Doctor pointed as if warning him.

"Search them," Stepashin ordered the other crewmen who'd remained rather still after such a moment. However, they didn't all jump at once, making Stepashin roll his eyes, "Yes, I know, there's women and a baby. Now search them!"

"You come near my baby and drowning will be the least of your problems," Minerva didn't fail to scare the men with her raging warning. Elias giggled and bared a toothless grin at the men, as if he were taunting them knowing his mother would never let them touch him.

However, just because the baby was protected didn't mean everyone else was safe. Clara let out an 'oomph' when her back hit a pole several feet behind them, "Are we going to be ok?" she asked Minerva and the Doctor who followed.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor nodded, holding Elias a little tighter as the men started searching through his pockets.

- _That is_ _ **so**_ _a lie_ \- Ally made a reappearance beside Clara.

Clara glanced at the alien pair, agreeing with Ally, "Is that a lie?"

"Possibly. Very dangerous time, Clara. East and west standing on the brink of nuclear oblivion. Lots of itchy fingers on the button."

Clara made a face, "Isn't it always like that?"

"Sort of. But there are flash points and this is one - hair, shoulder pads, nukes. It's the '80s. Everything's bigger!"

Elias had been watching carefully what was taken out of the Doctor's pockets and immediately fussed and cried, "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" while reaching out with his little fingers to a blonde Barbie doll.

Clara leaned forwards to see what was all the fuss about, "Why's he crying over a Barbie?"

- _Clara, that's rude_ \- her imaginary friend scolded her.

"You best give that back," the Doctor warned while bouncing Elias to hopefully stop the baby's cries.

Seeing no point in making the baby further cry, the men handed back the Barbie to the Doctor who quickly gave it to Elias. And just like that, Elias was smiling again playing with the Barbie's hair.

"He says it's Ally," Minerva explained to Clara.

Ally tilted her head at the Barbie meant to be her, - _Hm, it does look like me. Blonde and blue eyed!-_

Elias looked up with a toothless grin, "Ah!" he exclaimed happily.

"Okay, that's just weird," Clara thought for a moment Elias had been looking at _her_ imaginary friend. As if that could happen!

"What?" Minerva glanced at the woman, daring her to make a bad remark about her baby.

"Nothing," Clara waved off.

The Doctor was startled to see his screwdriver being taken away from him and tried to retrieve it when the Captain snatched it back, "What is this?"

The ship make a creak and titled, knocking Clara away from the group. At the same time, the TARDIS began dematerializing without a proper pilot.

"No, no, no, no! No, not now!" the Doctor shouted in distress.

Minerva, who had been going to help Clara, found those last words suspicious and turned around to the Doctor, letting Clara slip to the floor, "What do you mean 'not now'!?" she demanded.

But it was too late. The blue box was gone, Clara was unconscious and the ship was gradually losing air.

If they only knew what else lurked in the ship.

~ 0 ~

When Clara started waking up, now in a low location inside the ship, she first saw her imaginary friend, Ally, sitting right beside her, - _You okay?_ -

Clara looked at herself and saw she was wearing an officer's jacket over her dress, "Think so…" she then began hearing voices of Minerva and the Doctor's seemingly arguing with someone else.

"Captain, we didn't know the type of your ship out here…" the Doctor was trying to tell the Captain but the man refused to believe.

"Yeah, well, that's till the rescue ship comes."

" _If_ it comes!" Minerva pointed out an obvious truth none of the humans seemed to want to contemplate on.

"Oh, the sinking is just a coincidence, is it? Who are you?"

"Excuse me, but the sinking was already going on when we got here," Minerva snapped, "Find a new excuse because we're not it."

"But you can...you can _move_ water…" the Captain, along with the rest of the crewmen, still seemed slightly fearful of Minerva due to her abilities.

"And don't you think if I was evil I would have already drowned you already?"

"Alright, Captain, alright," the Doctor cut in through the argument, "You know what? Just this once, no dissembling, no psychic paper, no pretending to be an Earth ambassador."

"Ah?" Elias, from Minerva's arms, blinked, his little face contorted to confusion. They always used the magic paper to be what ever they wanted.

The Doctor caught the baby's thoughts and nodded, "Truth this time, El," he then explained to the Captain, "I'm the Doctor, that's my wife Minerva, our son Elias, and that's our friend Clara. We are time travelers. Clara, you ok?"

Clara had risen to her feet several minutes ago but had stayed out of the argument on advice from Ally, "Think so."

"Time travellers?" the Captain scoffed at the idea.

"We arrived here out of thin air! You saw it happen," Minerva reminded with a smirk.

"I didn't," and elderly man who hadn't been in the control room earlier spoke up.

"Sorry," Minerva shrugged.

"We were sinking…" Clara began remembering the earlier events.

"Yes," the Doctor agreed.

"What happened?"

Ally sighed, - _We sank_ -

Clara's eyes widened and quickly looked at the Doctor and Minerva, "Why is Ally telling me we sank?"

"Because we did," Minerva answered with a dismissive shrug.

"But what happened to the TARDIS, I mean?"

"I don't know," Minerva glanced at the Doctor with an irritated look, "He won't tell me what happened."

Like before, the Doctor dismissed the topic about the blue box, "Never mind that. Listen... Captain, breath's precious down here. Let's not waste it, eh?"

"You're right, maybe I can save a little oxygen by having you three shot?" the Captain countered with, "We'll take the baby."

Upon hearing that Elias went into hysterics, both mentally and physically, "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" he shook his head and fussed until Minerva held him tighter, ' _Don't let them take me, Mommy! Do something, Daddy!_ '

Clara felt bad for the baby and angrily shouted at the humans, "That is a _baby_ who can understand you _perfectly_ and you're talking about killing his parents! Are you insane!?"

"The only reason you're not dead is because my son is present," Minerva made sure to add as she calmed Elias down.

The Doctor rubbed Elias's back hoping he would let go of what the men had said, "Look, it really doesn't matter how we arrived. We just have to get out of here."

"And I can help with that," Minerva wearily looked at the men, not quite motivated to help them after what they said to her baby.

However, everyone besides her and the Doctor were busy staring at something behind them.

"You think you can raise the entire ship?" the Doctor turned to her, concerned because he knew that would take an enormous amount of her energy. It had only been 8 months ago that she'd given birth. All her water supply wasn't back yet; such an action like the one she was planning on could harm her.

"Don't know but I'll certainly try," Minerva seemed optimistic about the ordeal.

"Minerva, it can be dangerous for you and you know it," the Doctor felt like he had to remind her. In her movement to help others she would often foget about herself.

Elias also seemed to be on the Doctor's side as he looked up at his mother, ' _Mommy, I don't want you to get hurt_.'

Minerva silently gave a scolding look at the Doctor, "I'll be okay sweetheart," she happily told Elias, kissing the top of his head.

"Doctor?" Clara meekly asked, neither alien noticing how everyone else had began staring at something behind them.

"Not now, Clara," the Doctor waved her off, "Minerva, I'm serious."

"So am I," the ginger woman stood firm.

"You know your water isn't entirely replenished yet, maybe there's something else we can do."

"Minerva…?" Clara tried but received the same response back as the fist time.

"Just a minute, Clara," Minerva kept a look on the Doctor, "Now I understand where my energy levels are but I can manage this. Honestly. And besides, what's the alternative? Asphyxiating to death? I will not put my son through that."

' _I can hold my breath for a really long time_ ,' Elias quickly said to make another reason against his mother's wishes, ' _Don't do it, Mommy!_ '

Minerva huffed, now scolding the Doctor even more for Elias's panic. She held her baby closer in an attempt to calm his fusses.

"Doctor! Minerva!" Clara finally rose her voice loud enough to capture one of the aliens' attention.

The Doctor glanced at the brunette, seeing her nodding to something behind him. He turned around and finally saw what everyone was looking at: a large, armored-covered creature, "Ah…" the creature stepped forwards, "It never rains but it pours."

Minerva turned around and gasped at the sight of the creature. Instinctively, she gripped her hold on Elias, though the baby seemed quite fascinated with the view.

"We were drilling for oil in the ice," the professor shakily explained the reason for the presence of the creature, though he was as stunned as everyone else to see it actually there, "I thought I'd found a mammoth."

"It's not a mammoth," the Doctor shook his head.

"Absolutely not," Minerva agreed, stepping up besides the Doctor, "So what is it?" she whispered.

"Don't you remember your lessons?" the Doctor looked down at her.

"Which ones?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, "May I remind you how a lot of them ended up?"

The Doctor thanked the dark lights that hid his blush. He cleared his throat and faced the creature, "Right, well, this is an Ice Warrior. A native of the planet Mars. And we go way back. Way back."

"An actual Martian," Minerva began smiling, for a moment no longer afraid.

"Ah!" Elias exclaimed, trying to reach said Martian. He always heard his mother calling his father like that. He wanted to know what a real Martian looked like.

Also, he wanted to know what a Martian was.

Clara was now staring at Minerva, unlike the small baby she was terrified beyond belief, "Why are you _smiling_?"

Minerva glanced at her, "It's a Martian, Clara. This has been my thing since I was a human."

Clara blinked, "Every time you say something, you weird me out even more."

Ally laughed beside her, - _And I don't_ _think that's going to change_ -

One of the officers within the group came up behind the trio with a gun at the creature. The Doctor pushed down the gun before any chaos began, "No, no, no, no, no, no! Please, please, wait! Just... there's no need for this! Just hear me out!" he leaded from the creature, "You're confused, disorientated - of course you are. You've been lying dormant in the ice for, for how long?" he glanced back, "How long, Professor?"

"By my reckoning, 5,000 years."

"5,000 years?" Minerva blinked, "That's a hell of a nap. I can't blame you if you've got out of the wrong side of bed."

"Sh," the Doctor told her before she said anything else, "Nobody here wants to hurt you. Please, just, why don't you tell us your name?"

"What're you talking about? It has a name?" the Captain frowned.

"Everyone has a name," Minerva rolled her eyes, "and of this is a warrior then it clearly has a rank as well. That being said, it deserves our respect."

"This is madness. That is a monster!"

"Skaldak," the creature finally answered.

The Doctor gave a polite point and glanced at the Captain with a 'we told you so' face when the name finally registered in his head, "What did you say?" he asked the creature.

"I am Grand Marshal Skaldak."

The name began alerting Minerva in her subconscious, "W-wait a minute, I remember that name. Doctor you said-"

But another officer, Stepashin, snuck up behind Skaldak and attacked him with an electric weapon. Skaldak growled in pain and fell to the floor.

"You idiot!" the Doctor shouted, "You... idiot! Grand Marshal Skaldak."

Clara glanced at the two, sensing something was even worse now, "You... know him?"

"No, but I learned about him…" Minerva sighed.

"Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste, vanquisher of the Phobos heresy. The greatest hero the proud Martian race has ever produced," the Doctor relayed the lesson for the others.

"So what do we do now?" the Captain asked.

"Lock... him... up!"

~ 0 ~

After Skaldak had been chained up in a secure room, the rest of the officers and travelers gathered together to discuss more on their newest guest of the ship.

"I still don't understand the big deal about this," Clara voiced her confusion. She'd never actually seen the Doctor scared, nor Minerva.

"The Ice Warriors have a different creed, Clara. A different code," the Doctor tried explaining easy and slow for her, "By his own standards, Skaldak is a hero. It was said his enemies honored him so much they'd carve his name into their own flesh before they died."

Ally cleared her throat, - _And now we know the big deal_ -

Clara agreed with a nod, "Oh, yeah, very nice. He sounds lovely."

"An Ice Warrior? Explain," ordered the Captain, though it wasn't a complicated matter which only irritated the Doctor.

"There isn't time!"

"Try me."

"Oh brother," sighed Minerva. Even she knew there was no time to waste but then again she wasn't particularly human anymore.

"Martian reptile known as the Ice Warrior," the Doctor began, "When Mars turned cold they had to adapt. They're bio-mechanoid - cyborgs. Built survival armour so they could exist in the freezing cold of their home world, but an increase in temperature and the armour goes haywire."

"Like with the cattle prod thing?" asked Clara, making the connection for easier understanding.

"Like that cattle prod thing. Bit of a design flaw, I've always wondered why they never sorted it," the Doctor added before sending the Captain a pointed glare, "Oh, look. You've got me telling you about them and I said there wasn't time!"

Clara sighed, "Is he that dangerous?"

"Ooh this one is," Minerva shuddered a breath and not for temperature reasons,"And because you attacked him, it names hiking even more deadly."

"Why are we listening to this nonsense, Captain?" Stepashin questioned, "These people are clearly enemy agents."

"Eh?" Clara lifted an eyebrow, holding back her mocking laugh.

"Spies, captain!"

"Pretty bad spies, mate. I don't even speak Russian!" Clara rolled her eyes and received hushes from the Doctor and Minerva.

"What?" Stepashin took her statement as another reason to shoot them dead.

"I don't…" Clara began again when Elias started shouting.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" he was clearly shouting at her which made Clara stop, ' _Make her stop, Mommy. She's going to get us in trouble.'_

Clara lifted an eyebrow at the aliens, "Am I speaking Russian?" but she assumed by Elias's cries she was, "How come I'm speaking Russian?"

"Do we really have to do this now?" Minerva sighed and glanced at the Doctor with a look that said 'take care of it'.

"Are they speaking Russian?" Clara slowly pointed at the Russian officers.

"It's the TARDIS translation matrix," the Doctor finally gave the answer for the sake of her silence, "You can speak any language and it translates any language spoken to you."

"Are they…?"

This time it was Ally who quieted Clara down, - _Clara, perhaps this is not the time to be saying things that can make the men with guns suspicious about you_ -

Clara scowled and glanced at the Ally, "Well maybe I need to know this stuff so I quit making them suspicious in the future."

"Who are you talking to?" Minerva questioned.

"Ally," Clara reminded the presence of her friend and returned to her conversation when the Doctor cut in.

"Maybe talking to non-existent people isn't the best idea right now."

"Or any other time," Minerva added, trying to mask her suspicion as best as possible but Clara was able to tell their discomfort from a mile away.

"Look," Clara stepped closer to them and spoke quieter as the Russian officers got into some sort of discussion of their own about Skaldak, "To you it may seem ridiculous that a 26 year old has an imaginary friend. It may be. But this figment of my imagination is what keeps me from feeling lonely in the world, okay? She keeps me sane, she gives me friendship, someone to talk to. So I say this in the nicest way possible: can you deal with that, please?"

She wasn't being rude, she was being honest. Ally had been there since she was near six. It was during the very moment she lost her mother in a carnival that Ally appeared to her. Her mind had made an escape from the terror by creating a friend that would keep her safe. At least, that what Clara's mother told her. But Clara was happy with her imaginary friend as she'd grown up, until eventually she'd grown up too much and when she was near 12 Ally had disappeared. Her mind no longer needed an imaginary friend. It wasn't until Clara's mother died that Clara had seen Ally again. At age 15, Clara needed some sort of escape again to move from the tragedy. There had been Ally again, right beside her, crying herself as they greeted each other again. From age 15 and on, Clara always had Ally by her side. Ally wasn't just an imaginary friend to Clara, she was a comforter.

Ally was a reminder to Clara she would never be alone.

~ 0 ~

After a series of arguments between Clara and her traveling pilots, she was chosen to visit Skaldak in his prison room. The idea was to make Skaldak see they were no enemy, who certainly didn't need to die. Clara was the only one that, in reality, had never fought a day in her life - much less in a war. It was hard to let the girl go but in the end Minerva and the Doctor saw no other choice. The only thing they could do was guide her via a headset so she would say and do all the rights in front of Skaldak.

As Clara entered the torpedo room in Skaldak was detained, she watched Skaldak for any sudden moves he could pull. However, the creature remained still. She closed the door behind her and put on a headset around her head then moved to pick up a lamp and flicked it on.

" _Ready, Clara_?" she heard the Doctor from her headset.

Ally was no more pleased than the Doctor and Minerva about the plan, - _This is about bad idea_ -

Clara rolled her eyes around ignored her, "Yeah," she answered the Doctor, "Grand Marshal Skaldak," she called.

" _The salute_ ," she heard Minerva then, " _Do the salute like we showed you_."

Clara put the lamp she held between her legs to do the salute she'd been showed. Her right fist went to her chest and in response Skaldak hissed.

- _Clara, we should leave_ \- Ally pleaded.

"No," Clara hissed as she picked up the lamp again and

" _No what_?" the Doctor asked her, believing she'd been speaking to him instead.

"Talking to Ally," Clara clarified.

" _Well stop_ ," the Doctor ordered, " _And repeat after me…_ "

Clara nodded and repeated everything he said through the headset, "Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste. By the moons, I honor thee."

" _Good. It's ok, Clara. Go closer_ ," instructed the Doctor.

- _No, Clara_ \- Ally whispered but was blatantly ignored.

"Grand Marshal, I'm... We're sorry about this," the brunette continued as she stepped forwards. "It isn't what you deserve.

Just then, the power went out throughout the entire ship. It made Clara stop for a moment, a bit more nervous.

- _I told you this was a bad idea_ \- scolded Ally.

"Don't be such a wuss, Ally. We'll be fine just like always, okay?" Clara smiled, "You and I together, right?"

Ally let her nervousness go to smile back at her, - _You and I together_ \- she agreed.

"Forever," Clara finished making both chuckle. It was always their way to be good again with each other. Reminding each other they would always be together no matter what was a strong belief that kept them calm during the most awful times.

Putting down the lamp, Clara used a flashlight to light their way, "You're a long way from home. And 5,000 years adrift in time. Please, let us help you. You're not our enemy."

"And yet, I am in chains," Skaldak countered with.

Unsure how to respond to that, Clara spoke into the headset, "Doctor, Minerva, what do I say?"

"Yes, Doctor, Minerva. What should she say?" asked Skaldak, knowing for sure he was being overheard.

In the control room, the uncertainty within the humans was growing to dangerous levels. Minerva preferred to avoid such levels when her infant son was around.

"You're restrained until we can trust each other, Skaldak," she spoke through the microphone, her voice steady and firm - it was not the first time she dealt with enemies, "You would do exactly the same in our position, I've no ide , and don't even think about using that sonic weapon. Not in the torpedo room."

"I was fleet commander of the Nix Tharsis," argued Skaldak, "My daughter stood by me... It was her first taste of action. We sang the songs of the old times. The songs of the red snow. 5,000 years, now my daughter will be... dust! Only dust."

"No, no, no, listen," began the Doctor, "Your people live on, Skaldak! Scattered all across the universe. And Mars will rise again, I promise you. Just, let us help you."

"I require no help. There will be no help!"

Minerva saw Clara getting closer to Skaldak and had to warn, "Careful, Clara. He's dangerous."

"I'm ok," she assured but her feet kept moving.

"No, listen, Clara, don't get too close," the Doctor agreed with Minerva.

Clara continued moving towards Skaldak, "Ally…"

Ally was walking beside her, also sensing there was something wrong, - _I_ _know. Something about the armor_ -

Stopping right in front of Skaldak, Clara touched the helmet and watched it fall back revealing nothing inside, "It's not there! It's gone!" she gasped in terror as the front of the armor opened up and showed only technology inside.

"Gone? Gone? Gone, what do you mean, gone?!" the Doctor and Minerva cried.

"It's got out!"

"It is time I learned the measure of my enemies," Skaldak announced, "And what this vessel is capable of."

- _Clara we need to get out of here!_ \- Ally shrieked and ran for the door, - _Clara_!- she called at the woman who remained frozen looking up.

"Harm one of us and you harm us all! By the moons, this I swear!" Skaldak exclaimed from above.

Clara spun around trying to find Skaldak with her flashlight. Ally, meanwhile, was still at the hatchway, - _Clara! Let's go! Open it_!-

But Clara was still trying to find the missing creature, only taking slow steps towards the hatchway.

- _Clara_!-

"Hold on!"

But Ally did no such thing. She started attempting to open the hatchway on her own - not that Clara noticed very well. She was still primarily focused on Skaldak.

- _Clara_!- Ally shouted again and this time Clara did run for her, only because Skaldak was headed that way too.

However, just as Clara was about to help, the door opened, "Ally…" she blinked, for a moment thinking _she_ had opened the door.

Skaldak rushed past them out the room.

"Clara!" the Doctor stood on the other side of the hatch. He pulled her out of the hatch and hugged her.

"Clara, are you okay?" Minerva asked frantically.

"Yeah, yeah," Clara looked around and noticed Elias happily clapping his hands, "Why's he so happy?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Because apparently now he gets to see the Martian," Minerva sighed and changed Elias to her right hip.

' _A hunt for the Martian! A hunt_!' Elias cheered.

"Your baby is weird," Clara mumbled.

"Doctor, the signal, it's stopped," the professor had lowered his walkman.

The Doctor hurried over to listen, "Skaldak got no answer from his Martian brothers. Now he's given up hope."

"Uh oh," Minerva held Elias closer to her, not that the baby was scared.

"Hope of what?" the Captain asked.

"Being rescued. He thinks he's been abandoned," Minerva explained, "He's got nothing left to lose."

The Captain did not seem to understand, "But what can he do stuck down here like the rest of us? How bad can it be?"

"This sub's stuffed with nuclear missiles, Zhukov," the Doctor snapped, "It's fat with them! What do you think Skaldak's going to do when he finds that out? "How bad can it be? How bad can it be?" It couldn't be any worse."

And at that moment, the ship jostled them, opening one of the hatches and allowing water to rush in.

"Had to ask!" Minerva turned her back to the water in hopes of keeping Elias somewhat drier.

~ 0 ~

Later on, the trio of travelers relocated to the control room. Minerva and the Doctor were sat on two chairs in front of the controls while Clara leaned on a wall beside them.

Clara was intently watching across her where Ally stood. Her mind raced back to the moment at the hatchway where she could almost swear Ally opened the hatchway door itself. But...that was impossible. Ally was figment of her imagination, incapable of moving anything. So why couldn't Clara stop thinking about it?

"No, Elias," Minerva scolded as the baby tried reaching for the controls in front of them.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, his small fists going upward and downward, "Ah!"

"Doctor, control your son," Minerva gave up and held the baby to him.

"Oh, so he's my son when he doesn't listen to you?" the Doctor made a face but nonetheless took Elias into his arms.

"Of course, he gets that from _you_ ," Minerva accused, "So go and see how it feels."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and put Elias on his lap, "Alright, El, what do you want?"

Elias huffed as much as a baby could, ' _I want to find the Martian. Press controls and see what happens!'_

Minerva now was sharply staring at the Doctor, "Oh look at that, pressing buttons just to see what happens. Where have I seen that one?"

"You're not helping me," the Doctor whispered to Elias who giggled in response, "But he does have a point," he looked at Minerva, "We need to find Skaldak."

Minerva nodded and rose from her chair, "Captain," she called to the man, "How many of us are left?"

"12," he answered and looked at the crew still near him, "and we can't find Stepashin."

"So we split up and comb the sub," Minerva devised and glanced at the Doctor for input.

"One team stays here to guard the bridge," he added and stood up as well.

' _I want to go_!' Elias immediately said before his parents got the silly idea to make him stay back.

"So that's it?" the Captain asked the alien pair, apparently not very impressed, "That's the plan?"

"Well, it's either that or we stay here and wait for him to kill us," Minerva pointed out bluntly, waiting for any other disagreements.

"Okay," the Captain promptly gave up and walked out with his crew.

Clara finally leaned off the wall and moved closer to the aliens, "Is it true you've never seen one outside of its shell suit?"

""Shell suit"?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow. Innocently, Clara shrugged, thinking it was a good name, "Clara! For an Ice Warrior to leave its armor is the gravest dishonor," the Doctor informed her, "Skaldak is desperate, he is deadly and we have got to find him."

"Will this help?" the professor held up the sonic.

"Ah! You saved it!" the Doctor cheered as he took back his sonic.

"No, no, it was on the floor."

Elias cheered for their small win with a clap of his hands and a squeal. He would've tried reaching for the sonic but the last time he tried that one his Mommy had taken away his teddy bear Roger from him for a whole day! Roger was worth more than a stupid sonic screwdriver.

When the crew and travelers split up, each took a specific part of the ship to search. However in concern to Minerva's and the Doctor's group, the ongoing search was resting more on Elias than their full grown companion and the professor. Clara was at the very end of the group, sneaking glances of her imaginary friend, her mind unable to think of anything but the torpedo room situation. Meanwhile, the professor was humming to himself a light tune of some song in hopes of distracting from the danger.

The awkward silence only ended when the Doctor accidentally activated an alarm of the ship with the sonic.

"Of course," sighed Minerva, not an ounce surprised of her husband's gimmick.

Elias clapped his hands, giggling and hoping of attracting the Martian from wherever he was hiding. He clearly still did not understand the situation they were all in. However, his parents decided they'd rather have an overexcited son than a terrified one to handle at the moment. As long as he was okay, they were too.

The Doctor moved over to a small hatch on the wall and opened it with a rush of air. He sticks his head inside and tried using the sonic to deactivate the alarm. Seconds later they all heard eerie groans from above. Even Elias was left curiously looking up.

"What was that?" asked Clara.

"Pressure. Just pressure," Minerva decided to answer eith a small white lie. They did not need frozen, terrified companions that would inevitably get hurt, "We're 700 metres down, remember?"

"Don't worry about it. Think of something else," the professor upheld his nonchalant, happy attitude, "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da I am hungry like the wolf."

Clara looked at the man with outright refusal, "I'm not singing!"

"Don't you know it?"

"'Course I know it. We do it at karaoke. The odd hen night."

"Karaoke"? "Hen night"?" the professor chuckled, "You speak excellent Russian, my dear, but sometimes I don't understand a word you're talking about."

Upon hearing louder groans, this time along with growls and screams, the Doctor broke into a run after the sound. While they found no Skaldak they found evidence he'd been there not but a minute ago. Minerva turned Elias over, keeping a gentle hold over his head so he wouldn't see the dismembered body in front of them.

"Good God! Torn apart," the professor blinked in horror, "It's a monster. A savage!"

"No, Professor. Not savage, forensic," the Doctor corrected in a slightly less horrified tone, "Well, he's... dismantled them. Skaldak's learning. Learning all about you. Your strengths... Your weaknesses…" he pulled the sonic out for another scan, "Come on!"

However, the Doctor stopped them at the intersection of hallways and turned to them, "Stay here," he told Minerva primarily, knowing her instincts told her to follow after him.

"Absolutely not," Minerva shook her head, "I'm not letting you go out there with some thing that tears you apart."

"Minerva," the Doctor sighed and stepped closer to her, "we can't expose Elias to that creature," he rubbed Elias' back, the baby busy playing with his mother's ginger hair, "And let's be honest, do you trust leaving him with Clara?"

"Absolutely not," Minerva repeated her first answer quietly, making sure they weren't overheard.

"Then you'll stay here with our mini-Martian until I get back," the Doctor smiled and pecked her lips, ticking Elias on the stomach and receiving a giggle back.

' _Go Daddy!_ ' cheered the baby mentally.

Grinning, the Doctor rushed off to investigate. Minerva gently bounced Elias as a way to keep them distracted. She turned around and found Clara frantically biting her nails, her thoughts who knew where.

"Clara?" Minerva decided to see what was wrong - apart from everything else. However, Minerva had to call around three or four times for Clara to finally get the call.

"Hm?" the young brunette turned to Minerva, "I'm sorry, what?"

Minerva glanced at the professor and saw he was quietly sitting down and lost in his own thoughts. She then moved closer to Clara, suspiciously studying the brunette, "Are you okay?"

"Um…" Clara's eyes drifted to the side, "...well…"

"Clara?"

Clara dropped her hand to her side and made a complete 360 before she faced Minerva again, "Can I tell you something?"

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "Um, sure, I mean it's not like I've been asking you about anything…"

Clara ignored the sarcasm as she did another look around, "Well, I don't know if I'm seeing things, hopefully I am, but...I think Ally opened a door...on her own."

Now that captured Minerva's attention, "Really?"

Clara nodded, "Yeah. When we were in the torpedo room with Slakdak and he was trying to leave, Ally was shouting at me to go and open the door so we could escape. But, I didn't listen for a while and when I finally did go to open the door...it opened just before I got there. I mean, Ally said that it was the Doctor who opened the door but I don't think it was…"

Minerva suddenly realized why Clara had been looking around, "Is Ally here right now?"

Clara shook her head, "Nope. She does that sometimes - she disappears for hours but she always comes back."

"And do you...imagine her doing that?" Minerva curiously asked. Here was the theory that perhaps Clara wasn't even aware that perhaps her 'imaginary friend' wasn't so imaginary.

"I don't know," shrugged Clara. The two held a look for a couple minutes before Clara chuckled nervously, "This is all crazy, isn't it? This is what makes it crazy. A 26 year old who thinks her imaginary friend can open real doors."

Minerva thought it best to let Clara continue on in her own bubble. She would take the Ally situation into her own hands before she told Clara anything.

"What was that?" Clara flinched after hearing another groan.

"I told you, Clara," Minerva moved to take a seat beside the professor, settling Elias on her lap, "it's just the boat settling."

Elias, who was fiddling with his fingers, looked up at his mother, 'You are lying, Mommy. That's not the boat! It's the Martian!'

"Shh," Minerva hissed, but the professor had heard her.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Um, no, nothing," Minerva put on a smile, "Just baby stuff, you know."

"Ah!" Elias decided to help his mother with the small lie by saying all that he could at the moment.

The moment was cut short when Clara loudly gasped upon feeling two cold hands grasp the sides of her head, "Ah!"

"Let her go!" the professor ordered and whipped out a pistol which he used to fire, forcing Skaldak to let go of Clara.

Minerva quickly stood up and tightened her hold around Elias. Just like that, the professor was next as Skaldak gripped his head.

"Don't hurt him!" Minerva shouted, "Please!" seconds later the Doctor came running up behind them and saw Skaldak up in the ceiling.

"You attacked me!" Skaldak accused, "Martian law decree's that the people of this planet are forfeit. I now have all the information I require. It will take only one missile to begin the process. To end this cold war."

"Grand Marshal, there is no need for this. Listen to me…" the Doctor tried to say but Skaldak was far from wanting to listen.

"My distress call has not been answered. It will never be answered. My people are dead. They are dust. There is nothing left for me except my revenge."

"There is something left for you, Skaldak. Mercy," Minerva called up, "You could always try that. It's not that bad."

"Mercy?"

The Captain, along with his other crewmen, arrived at the scene and he was quick to use his gun as a threat, "You must wear that armour for a reason, my friend. Let's see, shall we?"

"No," the Doctor pushed the gun down, "Captain, you need to wait."

"I will do whatever it takes to defend my world, Doctor."

"Excuse you but we're getting somewhere," Minerva cut in, "We're negotiating here so I appreciate it if you'd stop. Plus, I don't like guns near my son," she gestured to the infant in her arms.

"Very well," the Captain begrudgingly agreed, "we'll negotiate but from a position of strength," he raised the gun again.

"What did I just finish saying?" snapped Minerva.

"Excellent tactical thinking. My congratulations, Captain," Skaldak sarcastically said, though the Captain never caught it.

"Thank you."

"Unfortunately, your position is not, perhaps, as strong as you might hope."

The Doctor was the first to hear a low growl coming closer. He looked around in panic, "What do you mean?"

"I think he means _that_ ," Minerva breathed at the sight of Skaldak's armor walking towards them.

"He summoned the armor," the Doctor blinked, stepping beside Minerva to watch the sight.

"How did it do that?" Clara looked at the two momentarily.

- _Clara, focus_ \- Ally scolded, now standing beside her. Clara turned her head at the woman, silently questioning her whereabouts. Ally straightened up and walked towards the suit, - _You realize this part of a bigger plan, right?_ \- she told Clara.

"This is part of a bigger plan, right?" Clara had taken the hint to repeat Ally's words to the pair of aliens beside her.

"Yeah, we got that," Minerva said, still in shock.

Skaldak raced towards his armor, easily dodging the fires of the crewmen, "My world is dead but now there will be a second red planet! Red with the blood of humanity!" now in his suit, he started walking away.

- _He's headed for the control room, Clara!_ \- Ally warned.

"He's heading for the control room!" Clara then told the others, making them dash after the Martian.

Ally was correct in her warning. The group caught up with Skaldak in the control room where he was already busily setting up the controls to launch missiles.

"He's arming the warheads!" the Captain, panicking as well, raised his gun at the creature in front of them.

"Where is the honor in condemning billions of innocents to death? 5,000 years ago Mars was the center of a vast empire. The jewel of this solar system," the Doctor was trying a much calmer approach though he was seeing it was failing as Skaldak continued with the controls, "The people of earth had only just begun to leave their caves. Five thousand years isn't such a long time, they're still just frightened children. Still primitive. Who are you to judge them?"

"I am Skaldak! This planet is forfeit under Martian law."

"Then teach them!" Minerva spoke up, "Teach them, Grand Marshal! Show them another way! Show them there is honour in mercy. Is this how you want history to remember you? Grand Marshal Skaldak - Destroyer of Earth? Because that's what you'll be if you send those missiles. Not a soldier, a _murderer_. Five billion lives extinguished."

But Skaldak continued with the controls.

The Doctor glanced at Minerva, both thinking the same thing, "All right, all right, Skaldak, you leave me no choice," the Doctor began, pulling out his sonic, "I'm a Time Lord, Skaldak. I know a bit about sonic technology myself."

Skaldak glanced back, "A threat? You threaten me, Doctor?"

"No. No, not you... all of us. I will blow this sub up before you can even reach that button, Grand Marshal. Blow us all to oblivion."

"You would sacrifice your own family?"

Minerva stepped up with the Doctor, firmly taking her position, "I wouldn't worry about us, dear. We'll be alright unlike you."

Skadalk returned to the controls, just one push away from sending the missiles.

"Look into my eye, Skaldak. Look into my eyes and tell me you're capable of doing this," the Doctor challenged, "Huh? Can you do that? Dare you do that? Look into my eyes, Skaldak, come on! Face-to-face."

Obediently, Skaldak turned around to face him, "Well, Doctor," he opened his helmet up, stunning the Doctor with the unusual custom, "which of us shall blink first?"

Clara couldn't let this happen without trying herself, "Why did you hesitate?" she called before she had a proper time to think about it, "Back there, in the dark. You were going to kill this man, remember?" she gestured to the professor, "I begged you not to and you listened. Why show compassion then, Skaldak, and not now? The Doctor and Minerva are right. Billions will die... Mothers, sons, fathers... daughters. Remember that last battle, Skaldak? Your daughter... You sang the songs…"

"Of the red snows…" Skaldak finished for her.

Suddenly, the ship shook in a way that made everyone rock about for a couple seconds.

"What's happening!?" Clara shrieked.

The Captain was taking a look at the readings for their depth and was shocked to see them rising.

"My people live! They have come for me!" cheered Skaldak.

"We're rising. We're rising!" the Captain called and the professor went to see for himself.

"600 meters... 550…"

When the ship broke through the surface ice of the ocean, the Doctor stepped towards Skaldak, feeling just a little more hopeful, "We've surfaced. Your people have saved us."

"Saved _me_ , not _you_ ," Skaldak made sure to point out to them all.

"Just go, Skaldak, please. Please... go in peace," Minerva ordered.

Clara saw Skaldak beamed out of the ship and couldn't help cheer, "We did it! We did it!"

But the Doctor had no plans for that as he went to the controls to see what had been done, "No. No, no, no, no, no! It's still armed. A single pulse from that ship... I'll destroy this ship if I have to. Minerva?"

"On it," the brunette stepped back, "Everyone in the center, with me, _now_ ," she ordered.

"Why? What are you doing?" Clara asked while doing as told along with the others.

"He may have to destroy the ship but we don't have to die," Minerva explained, "I'll build an bubble around us," and at the look of confusion of Clara, Minerva decided to inform, "My powers are stronger than you think. It can withstand anything as long as it wasn't built with a special metal - a metal from the future I doubt this ship has. Doctor?"

"I know," he nodded, taking his own step back to them, still holding the sonic should it be needed, "Show mercy, Skaldak. Come on, show mercy," he pleaded in a whisper.

Elias rested his head on Minerva's chest, covering his eyes with his small hands, ' _Mommy, when will the ship go boom?_ '

Minerva gently bounced him, "Hopefully, it won't," she kissed his head.

Suddenly, they heard a klaxon sound followed by the noises of the controls switching back to normal. The lights turned green which allowed for celebration as the hatches closed outside the ship.

The Doctor shut off the sonic and wiped a hand across his forehead, turning to his small family with a delighted smile. He took Minerva into a hug, and consequently Elias, and gave her a kiss.

~ 0 ~

The group soon decided to go up to the surface and see just where they were at the moment. As they got out, they managed to see the Martians' big spaceship above them.

Seeing said ship, Clara remembered theirs was still missing, "The TARDIS!" she turned to the pair of aliens, "Where's the TARDIS? You never explained."

Suddenly, Elias giggled, letting both Minerva and Clara know that he knew the reason for the TARDIS' disappearance.

The Doctor quickly took the baby from Minerva's arms and gave him a fake, stern point, "Hey, remember what I said? Boys against girls."

' _I haven't said anything, Daddy_ ,' Elias reminded him whilst still giggling. He covered his eyes once more to avoid being brought into the discussion between the adults.

"Martian," called Minerva, her arms now crossed and expectantly looking at him, "My box of wonders, where is it?"

"Oh, well, don't worry about that," the Doctor swayed his head, pretending to be studying the spaceship above them.

"Elias, where's the TARDIS?" Minerva tried again but the baby kept his eyes covered, meaning nothing was coming out from him anytime soon.

"I've been tinkering... breaking her in," the Doctor allowed and sheepishly looked at his wife, "I'm allowed, aren't I?"

"You really wanna go down that road?"

Clara snickered on the side, amused to see how alien marriages worked, "So what did you do exactly?" she asked the Doctor.

"I reset the HADS…"

"The what?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"The HADS! The Hostile Action Displacement System! If the TARDIS comes under attack - gunfire, time-winds, the...sea - it... relocates."

Minerva threw her head back, shutting her eyes, "Damn it, Martian," Elias began giggling again, louder than last time. Minerva straightened up and sent her son a mocking glare, "And you Elias," she pointed, "you didn't tell Mommy about this?"

' _It's boys against girls, Mommy,_ ' Elias displayed toothless grin.

"Ha!" the Doctor cheered, "Yes! That's my son!" he planted a kiss on Elias' damp tuff of hair.

"Excuse me?" Minerva crossed her arms, left with a mouth open.

"Sorry, love, we can have a girl if you'd like, even out the score."

"Doctor!" Minerva stomped her foot, giving him a look that warned him to keep quiet.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," he pulled out his sonic that had started buzzing in his pocket, "Look, it's the TARDIS signal. The TARDIS is at the Pole!"

"Not far then," Clara decided to be cheerful and went for the hatch.

"Wait for it," Minerva was less inclined to be cheerful when it came to her husband tinkering with the TARDIS.

"The South Pole," the Doctor coughed out.

"There it is," Minerva gestured with a deep sigh.

"Could we have a lift, Captain?" the Doctor asked the man but received laughter instead.

"You're so sleeping on the couch for this," Minerva warned as she went to the hatch herself.

"Oh c'mon, Minerva!" the Doctor called after her but the ginger ignored him and went back down into the ship.

Elias giggled again and looked up at his father, ' _You made Mommy mad. Are you going to give her a present now?_ '

"Are you going to help me?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

' _I can't do anything, I'm small!_ ' the baby flapped his hands much like the Doctor did himself, ' _But I can tell her what a good Daddy you are to me._ '

The Doctor smiled, "That's my boy," he tickled Elias' stomach, "What a perfect team we are."

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

Yikes what an episode lol. And what about that Ally, hmm? Any new guesses? Theories?

 ** _For Reviews:_**

Oh my god yes! I nearly cried at the picture of Susan! We have to remember that Elias is an 8 month infant so for him 'bad' can be something that's actually not as bad as he makes it seem. So maybe what he sees bad in Clara can be something completely different in the end. But you'll know what his reason was near the end of the story! YES. I completely agree! I think season 10 has the potential to be one of the best seasons yet! 12 & Bill have such a dynamic I think we haven't yet seen in the entire reboot of Doctor Who. And yeah, that vault. What is in that vault lmao I think it's Missy tbh.

I can't say who is she but I know you'll freak out when you see :D. Oh my God you are gonna love Bill Potts. I already love her so much lmao. I haven't seen Capaldi in anything but Doctor Who so he would probably look weird for me haha. And thank you! 2 more weeks and then I'm free from school haha and with plenty more writing time ^.^

* * *

So, next chapter we get 2 special 'guest stars' for the beginning of the chapter. One old and one new but not so new ;D


	11. Hide Away

Elias squirmed in his mother's arms as they hurriedly walked out of the TARDIS. He knew something was wrong and he wanted to stop it. Minerva had woken up earlier that morning and consequently woke Elias afterwards. She promised him they were going somewhere new, to meet someone. But then she landed the TARDIS all on her own while the Doctor continued to sleep in their bedroom. She took Elias and hurried out into a modern day street.

Elias knew if his mother was hiding this special place from his father then it couldn't be entirely good. ' _Mommy, what is this place?_ ' he asked Minerva once they entered a building full of bustling humans.

"It's a firm, sweetheart," Minerva shifted him on her side and kissed his head, "This is where your grandmother works at?"

' _Like grandpa!?_ ' Elias began looking about, holding his teddy bear Roger out so he could see as well.

"Exactly," Minerva relaxed knowing Elias was settling down. She'd already done bad by keeping her surprise visit to Sophia from the Doctor. But she knew if she told him her plans he would have never stood for it.

They arrived in front of Sophia's secretary. The blonde woman looked up from her computer screen, "How can I help you?"

"Can you please tell Sophia her daughter's here to see her?" Minerva asked.

"Um…" the secretary reluctantly glanced at the shut door of her boss, "Ms. Lozano has a full day today and I doubt she can see you."

Minerva took notice of the name change Sophia had undergone and couldn't help still feel partially guilty for the divorce between the parents, "Look, just tell her Minerva's here to see her...with her grandson. I'm sure she'll let me in."

The secretary gave a light sigh as she stood up from her chair and went for the office. Minerva turned to the door but remained where she was until the secretary returned.

"Ms. Lozano will see you," she gestured for Minerva to go in.

"Thank you," Minerva politely said before walking towards the office. As she did she shifted Elias once more, straightening his hair a bit. This meeting wasn't for her, it was for her son and adoptive mother.

Sophia Lozano was sitting at her desk when she heard the footsteps coming in. She looked up from her paperwork and saw Minerva, "Well, I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this visit," she began in an already sour tone.

"I'm here alone," Minerva said quietly but Elias had to contradict her with a small yelp, "Okay, I'm here with my son," Minerva clarified, "your grandson."

Sophia studied the infant with disinterest, "Right, I hear you've taken on the silly role of motherhood. Tell me, how's that going along?"

Unable to bite her tongue, Minerva responded with, "Well, I haven't abandoned him like someone else did."

Sophia felt the accusation and grew even colder, "I didn't abandon you, sweetheart."

"I'm not here to argue with you over our past issues. I'm here because I think my son deserves to meet his other grandmother. And, I think you might also want to see him."

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Because you're lonely."

Sophia barked a laugh that actually made Minerva flinch, "And who told you that lie?"

"Well," Minerva set Elias down on the floor after checking for any immediate dangers. She placed his bear down along with him and soon the infant began playing and crawling, "I know you don't talk to grandma anymore. You don't talk to uncle Aaron either. You're on your own. No one should be alone."

"I choose not to talk to them," Sophia rose from her chair, unfased by the truth, "They're people who aren't worth my time."

"But they're your family," Minerva frowned.

"Like you?" Sophia raised an eyebrow then laughed, "Please."

"After all this time you still don't consider me a daughter, I get that," Minerva sighed, resigned to the fact, "But I would still want to be civil, have some sort of relationship...even if it's just friends."

Sophia gave her a sinister smile, tilting her head, "Poor Minerva, always wanting to have that motherly figure. Where's your other mom? The real one? Why not crawl back to her instead of irritating me."

Minerva swallowed down hard, growing weaker in front of the woman. Down on the floor Elias saw his mother in what he knew was her sad face...and it was all that woman's fault!

"My mother is dead," Minerva answered quietly, "just like my father. I already told you, I'm not looking to be the daughter I will clearly never be-"

"You will _never_ be," assured Sophia before she harshly turned over a picture frame on her desk, revealing a young Olivia Souza, "Because I only had _one_ daughter and her name was Olivia, _not_ you."

Minerva looked down and quickly wiped some loose tears at the corners of her eyes, "I know that."

"Then _why_ are you here!?" Sophia rose her voice, "I'm fairly busy and frankly I don't want to see you."

Elias scowled at the woman for shouting at his Mommy. He may be small but he would not let her get away with that.

"Because I wanted you to meet your grandson," Minerva shifted on her feet, rubbing her arm, "Because he saw a picture of you and had no idea who you were."

"And did anyone tell you I wanted to see the kid?"

"Well, no-"

"Then why the hell would you bring him here?" Sophia then abruptly yelped, startling Minerva, "What the hell!?" Sophia looked down to see Elias trying to swing his teddy bear at her leg.

"Elias!?" Minerva then realized her son was no where to be seen.

"Get this brat away from me!" ordered Sophia who backed away from the infant.

Minerva quickly went around the desk and picked up her son and glared at Sophia, "What did you just call him!?"

"A brat!" Sophia shouted angrily at the two, "He's a brat who clearly has no manners! But then again what did I expect from _you_? The kid's gonna grow up to be as insufferable as you were!"

"Ah!" Elias flapped his hand at her, scowling, having meant in his mind ' _Be quiet!_ '.

"How can you say that?" Minerva covered Elias' ear while gently resting his head on her shoulder to cover the other, "He's a _baby_ \- your grands-"

"HE'S NOT MINE!" Sophia then screamed, "I don't want anything to do with him because I don't like him! I hate him! He's a slobbering infant who I could care less if he knows me or not!"

Minerva angrily held back her hot tears to give a coherent response back, "You are far more cruel than I remembered. You can say whatever you want to _me_ , you can insult me - I don't care - but you do _not_ insult my son."

"They're not insults, dear, they're the truth," Sophia scoffed with a sway of her head. With arms crossed she went towards the two, "Your son will grow up to be exactly what you were - a monster. And hopefully, someone will stop him like I wished someone had stopped you before you ruined my life."

"Madam, step away from the woman," a distinct voice ordered from the doorway of the office. Both Sophia and Minerva glanced to see an older man glaring what seemed like daggers towards Sophia.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Sophia asked, sounding a lot nicer due to the fact she thought he was a potential client.

However, the man seemed less than interested in the question, "Step away from the woman and the child," he ordered again, allowing Minerva to detect a Scottish accent in his tone, "I've been around for some time so believe me when I tell you that are the lowest of what humans have to offer."

"E-excuse me?" Sophia leaned forwards as she'd heard wrong.

The man motioned to Minerva to come around and surprisingly Minerva followed without hesitation. Something about him made her feel slightly better. His deep, blue eyes were now transfixed on Sophia across them, "You dare call yourself a lawyer - a woman who defends the needed - when you insult a woman and an infant?"

"I-I don't understand," Sophia shook her head, "Who are you? What are you doing in my office?"

"I'm here to help," the man flashed a grin and swung his arm around Minerva's shoulders, "And to insult you of course."

"What!?"

"You think your daughter would appreciate the way you're shouting at her younger sister?" he gestured to the picture of Olivia.

"How did you know that?" Sophia quickly took her picture frame and held it to her chest.

"Olivia would be angry at you," the man continued with his surprising knowledge, "She would detest you for what you're doing. You are not a mother, you're barely a person. Only a monster would insult an infant who has nothing against you. And to this woman," he gestured to Minerva, "who's done nothing but defend you and try to get along with you even when your own family didn't. Minerva's right, you are lonely and I hope with everything I have that you remain like that until the day you die."

Sophia was flabbergasted to hear all that. She wasn't given a chance to make a comeback as the man bent down to pick up Elias' teddy bear off the floor and gently took Minerva out of the room with a hand on her back, all the meanwhile making sure she was okay. However she didn't give a response all the way out of the building. Upon stepping out on the street, she stopped and looked down, finally releasing her emotions she'd bottled in. Elias watched with great despondency as his mother began to sob.

Yes, he now hated that Sophia woman. He was not her grandma and he didn't want her to be. He already had a grandma, after all, and her name was Isadora - and she made delicious cookies!

But that woman still had made his Mommy cry and now it was up to him to make her feel better since his Daddy wasn't around. Though he was small, he reached out to touch Minerva's cheeks and leaned forwards, leaving small kisses on either cheek. After a couple seconds Minerva figured out he was attempting to pepper-kiss her face like the Doctor usually did.

Wearing a crooked smile, she wiped some tears off her face and regarded her baby, "Thank you, El. Mommy feels a lot better now."

Elias squealed with pride and clapped his hand, suddenly realizing he was missing Roger!

"Ah!" he quickly leaned to the side to catch sight of the firm behind them, "Ah!"

"I got it," the man from earlier stepped towards them holding the bear in his hand. Cautiously, Elias took his bear back then rested his head on Minerva's shoulder, returning to his normal activities.

Minerva looked at the strange man with suspicion, yet gratitude, "I don't know who you are, but...thank you."

The man smiled, "Believe me, I've been wanting to do that for a very long time."

Minerva lifted an eyebrow, "But how? How did you know all that stuff you said back there?"

"I just know," the man shrugged, "I know a lot of things, you know."

That...sounded conceited - a familiar conceitedness.

"Really?" Minerva looked around, beginning to wonder if the Doctor had finally woken up and realized she was gone.

"Oh yes, definitely know," the man assured with a nod, "Though my wife likes to pretend she doesn't like it when I know a lot of things."

"...really?" Minerva frowned, "Maybe your wife is right, you know."

"Oh she is," the man quickly agreed, sounding slightly scared, "She's always right and I end up learning that one way or another."

Minerva made a face as she took in those words then the wide grin of the man, the way his eyes seemed to bore into her own. It was like he was waiting for her to realize something.

Her heart skipped a beat. "...Doctor?" she whispered.

"Who?" the man leaned forwards to take a hand of Elias, fiddling with it while the baby covered his face with his free hand, showing his shyness. He nearly lost his teddy bear if Minerva hadn't grabbed onto it.

Minerva blinked, "T-this...this is impossible. If you're actually him, then...that would mean you regen...you're…"

The man left Elias and reached to touch Minerva's face, his grin fading into a soft smile, "I want you to forget what that awful woman told you today. I want you to be happy and to go back to your husband and let him comfort you as much as you need."

"But-"

"And remember, you're mother, and your father, loved you so, so much. They would be proud of the woman and mother you are today," the man gave her a kiss on the forehead, making Minerva close her eyes at the different, yet in a way familiar, sensation. The man ruffled Elias' hair and chuckled as the baby covered his eyes, once again displaying he was shy.

By the time Minerva opened her eyes again, the man was gone.

 _'Mommy, can we go see Daddy now?_ ' Elias asked excitedly, his hands now playing with her hair.

Minerva didn't answer for the first couple of seconds as she was left thinking of the strange man with gray hair and blue eyes.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was going crazy trying to figure out where his wife and son had gone off to! He'd checked the environment they were in and was confused to find themselves in modern day San Diego! He had wondered if Minerva wanted to visit her father but then he thought she would've told him about it and invited him.

So, if she wasn't there to see her father, who was she there for?

Thankfully, just as he was heading for the doors, they opened up and in came Minerva holding Elias.

"Oh thank goodness!" the Doctor rushed to them and wrapped them into a hug, giving each a kiss on the head.

Elias squealed then giggled, ' _You're silly, Daddy. Mommy and I went out_.'

"Where'd you go to?" the Doctor asked Minerva whilst taking Elias from her.

Minerva had a crooked smile plastered on her face, still thinking about the alleged Doctor she'd just met. But the other half of her was still thinking about Sophia and how she'd basically ended all type of communication with the woman.

"Minerva?" the Doctor asked again, sensing there was something wrong, "What happened?"

' _Mommy went to go see the bad woman in the picture_ ,' Elias was the one to answer, though it took the Doctor a couple of minutes to figure out who the baby was talking about.

"You went to go see _Sophia_?" he gaped at his wife, "Are you mad!?"

Minerva didn't want to be shouted at anymore, it easily triggering her tears, "Maybe…" she sniffled.

Guilty of what he thought he caused, the Doctor dropped the accusation and took her into a big hug including Elias, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," he kissed Minerva's hair, "I'm sorry."

Minerva hugged him tighter as she saw more of the events that had happened earlier, "It's not your fault."

' _The mean lady made Mommy cry,_ ' Elias sourly explained to his father, ' _And she called me a brat. What's a brat?_ '

The Doctor felt the fury rise through his blood upon hearing all that, "She called you a _what_?" he then handed the infant back to Minerva before storming for the doors.

Knowing where he was planning on going, Minerva turned and went after him, "No! Don't go!"

The Doctor turned around, "I have to! I've held my tongue and kept quiet about her because I knew she still meant something to you but this has gone far enough! She'll get to know my side that's been itching to greet her."

"Don't go, please!" Minerva called again, this time stifling a visible sob, "I don't...I don't want to remain here anymore. I just...I want to leave. Let's go, please?" she held her hand out for him, "I swear I'm done with her but please take me somewhere else. I want to forget this happened."

The Doctor seriously doubted it would be that easy for her to 'forget' everything of today. Sooner or later she'd reveal her entire emotions. Still, he didn't want to be a further cause for her sobbing and so he decided to obey. Taking her hand, he led her to the jump chair and sat her down, pressing a kiss to her forehead then clearing a tear from her cheek.

' _It's okay, daddy, I hit the mean lady_ ,' Elias declared happily.

Minerva lightly chuckled and kissed his cheek, "That was very rude of you."

"I'm a proud father, Arlo," the Doctor instead said as he rushed to get started on the console.

' _I just wanted to help_ ,' Elias looked at his mother, ' _And I did, just like the man did too._ '

The Doctor paused his work to glance over, "What man?"

Minerva plastered on a sheepish smile, "No man, it's nothing."

"But Elias just said that a man helped you."

"He's a baby, he barely knew half of the things that happened back there," Minerva shrugged, "It's nothing."

The Doctor studied her a moment more before returning to his work. At the questioning look she received from her son, Minerva gestured with a finger against her lips that it was to be their little secret. The man who'd defended them could've easily been the Doctor, but just what Doctor they didn't know.

~ 0 ~

In an attempt to cheer Minerva up after such a horrendous morning, the Doctor told her of the new plan he thought of regarding Clara and her secret - one which Elias still refused to tell. Their next stop, along with Clara, became 1974 in a spooky mansion set off apart a city. There they would find a powerful empathic psychic who could perhaps give some insight to the pair on just what Clara was. Though to Clara, the trip was just a case of a mysterious ghost that they needed to solve.

"So, you want us to catch a ghost...with this?" Clara stared at the bright red umbrella Minerva had handed her when the TARDIS landed.

"No, that's for the rain, clearly," the Doctor threw her an odd look.

 _'I don't wanna!_ ' Elias angrily flapped his hands all about to prevent Minerva from getting him into a papoose, ' _No! No! No!_ '

Clara hid her looming laughter behind a hand, too amused. Ally appeared beside Clara and freely laughed, - _He does the same hand thing like the Doctor_ \- she remarked and mimicked the Doctor's common flapping of hands in the air.

"I know," Clara giggled quietly, watching even the Doctor go by to Minerva in order to help with the fussing baby.

"Elias, what's the matter?" the Doctor took the infant into his arms.

"Ahy!" Elias exclaimed out loud, putting an emphasis on the 'y'. He'd been growing closer to the actual talking, enunciating the sounds of many other letters more often. He had entered the nine month mark, and apparently was a bit more advanced than his Monsoon counterparts. Even the Doctor was a bit surprised to find Elias excelling quicker than a regular Time Lord child. Elias was proving he was truly part of a different species. His parent expected the first word to be popping out any day now.

"El, Mommy just wants to have you close to her," Minerva made a pout that caught Elias' attention, "Does Elias not want to be Mommy anymore?"

Elias quickly shook his head, genuinely scared he might have made his Mommy think that, ' _I like Mommy! I love Mommy! Daddy, give me back to Mommy._ '

As the Doctor handed the baby back he gave Minerva a smirk, 'Nice one' he mouthed to her.

"That's my baby boy," Minerva rewarded Elias with a big kiss on his head after successfully putting him into the papoose. The truth was if they were going to be solving a ghost case it would involve a lot of running and she didn't want Elias to get hurt in any way.

Now, they were ready to go meet the psychic who would hopefully shed some light into their mystery.

~ 0 ~

As was predicted, the group was met with clear hesitation from the inhabitants of the Caliburn house. That, of course, never stopped the Doctor from barging in and inspecting the flashy machinery in the first room he saw.

"Ooh!" he picked up a small computer object and turned it over in his hands.

"So what's all this in aid of?" demanded the owner of the house, a man named Alec. He was already reluctant about the intruders but now they were going through his stuff!

"Health and safety," Minerva flashed the man a polite smile as she crossed the room to the Doctor where she snatched the object from his hand, intentionally making Elias giggle. With his free hand (as the other held his teddy bear Roger) he tried reaching for the object his mother still held.

"Yeah, the Ministry got wind of what's going on down here. Sent us to check that everything's in order," the Doctor explained over-excitedly which only put Alec at more suspicion.

"They don't have the right."

"Don't worry, Guv'nor, we''ll be out your hair in five minutes," the Doctor promised but was distracted by yet another equipment piece, "Oh! Oh, look! Oh, lovely. The ACR 99821. Oh, bliss, nice action on the toggle switches. You know, I do love a toggle switch. Actually, I like the word "toggle". Nice noun. Excellent verb."

Clara had also become distracted with a smallish device, her fingers touching one of the switches. She received a harsh slap on the hand by Minerva, "Oi, don't mess with the settings!"

Sporting a big pout on her face as she rubbed the back of her hand, Clara replied with, "Wh - how come you didn't do that to him?" she nodded over to the Doctor.

Minerva looked back at her husband and promptly did the same, "Ow!" he yelped and jerked his hand back. At this, Elias squealed and threw his head back, resting it on Minerva's chest as he continued to giggle.

"Thank you," Clara said to Minerva afterwards, missing the mock glare the Doctor was sending her way.

He brushed off the moment when he noticed Emma curiously staring at them. He whipped out his sonic and started scanning the area around them, distractedly making his way to the archway of the room.

Emma heard the whizzing of the screwdriver and became even more curious, "What's it telling you?"

"It's telling me that you haven't been exposed to any life-threatening transmundane emanations. So... " the Doctor turned around with a clap of his hands, "...where's the ghost?"

Minerva looked around and picked up a candelabrum, "Let's go find out," she beamed.

Clara studied Minerva wearing an odd look on her face, "You sure seem excited - more than you should be."

Minerva regarded the brunette with a knowing smile, "What can I say? Ghosts are usually part of the afterlife and being a spiritual creature...you can say this is sorta my thing."

Clara didn't feel better hearing that, her mind wondering just what type of situations they could end up in due to this 'ghost'. And, all Minerva could think about was the after life?

- _C'mon Clara_ \- called Ally from the archway where everyone had gone in through already, Clara having been too caught up with her thoughts to notice, - _You'll be left behind to deal with the ghost_ \- laughed Ally.

Clara rolled her eyes at the tease and hurried to catch up.

In the dark hallways, Alec trailed behind the Doctor, refusing to be calm, "I won't have this stolen out from under me, do you understand?"

"Erm, no, not really, sorry," the Doctor shook his head.

"I will not have my work stolen, then be fobbed off with a pat on the back and a letter from the Queen. Never again! This is my house, Doctor, and it belongs to me."

Clara blinked in horror, "This is actually your house?"

"It is."

"Sorry," Clara couldn't wrap her head around the idea, "You went to the bank and said, 'You know that gigantic old haunted house on the moors? The one the dossers are too scared to doss in? The one the birds are too scared to fly over?' And then you said, "I'd like to buy it, please, with my money."

"Yes, I did, actually," Alec nodded.

- _This man's got issues_ \- Ally declared and received a nod of agreement from Clara.

"Listen, Major," the Doctor reclaimed the conversation, "we just need to know what's going on here."

"For the Ministry?"

"You know I can't answer that."

With very little choice, Alec agreed, "Very well. Follow me."

He brought them into a bigger parlor room, one where a pinboard was set up containing pictures and notes of all types. Alec took to collecting all the needed information which left for some free, small time to waste. While the Doctor found some amusement in a camera, Minerva went over to a chair and sat down to give herself a rest. Elias was growing and was just a tad heavier to carry around than she expected. Carrying him in her arms was easier since she could easily pass him to the Doctor or simply shift him to her other side.

Little Elias was ignorant to his mother's thoughts as he played with his teddy bear. Soon, Clara and Emma came to join the brunette woman sitting alone.

Curious, Clara sheepishly asked Emma after taking their seats, "So what's an empathic psychic?" at that moment, the Doctor walked over to a table beside them and started picking through the bottles, finding one with milk.

"Sometimes I... sense feelings," Emma carefully answered, "The way a telepath can sense thoughts. Sometimes, though. Not always."

After taking a big gulp of the milk, the Doctor decided to join in, "The most compassionate people you'll ever meet, empathics. And the loneliest. I mean, exposing themselves to all those hidden feelings - all that guilt, pain and sorrow and…"

Minerva silently noticed Emma's discomfort and sighed, "Martian, shut up."

Elias, thankfully, gave another distraction, "Ah!" he had left his teddy bear and was now reaching out for the bottle of milk the Doctor still held, "Ah!"

"Would you, er, care to have a look?" Alec called from the pinboard, gesturing to the contents it held.

"Yes," the Doctor pointed at the man as he gave the bottle of milk to Minerva. He then pulled out a baby bottle from inside his jacket and handed it over to Minerva as well.

As the others went to hear what Alec had to say, Minerva stayed behind to give Elias the milk he wanted. As she was pouring the milk into the sippy cup, she noticed Elias staring intently at something beside them - as _if_ something were beside them.

"What's the matter, El?" she quietly asked.

 _'Ally's sad,_ ' came the equally sad response of Elias telepathically.

Minerva tightened the cap of the bottle and turned to face where Elias was staring at, "And...why is she sad?"

' _I can't tell you_ ,' Elias covered his face with his hands, ' _Ally says I can't._ '

Minerva scowled and walked away, "Well tell Ally to leave you alone," she angrily told the baby. She would not stand for some creature to be manipulating her son - or what ever 'Ally' really was.

~ 0 ~

Clara had quietly been walking right behind the Doctor and Minerva through the dark hallways of the house, apparently intending on finding the 'ghost'. She wasn't very comfortable with the eerie silence that had filled their group, especially when the ghost could pop up at any second.

She cleared her throat and broke the silence with a very important question, at least she thought it was, "Say we actually find this ghost...what exactly are we going to say to it?"

"We ask how she came to be... whatever she is," the Doctor shrugged, though he himself had been pondering that for a while now.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know. And ignorance is... what's the opposite of bliss?"

"Carlisle," Minerva answered with a light sigh.

"Yes!" the Doctor exclaimed, "Yes, Carlisle. Ignorance is Carlisle."

As Emma had told them the heart of the house was the music room, the alien pair decided to go there first. It was a near empty room except for a harp and a couple of music stands all around. There was one chair and a small table with an empty teapot.

The Doctor began scanning the area with the sonic and carefully made a way further into the room, "Ah, the Music Room. The heart of the house. Do you feel anything?"

"No," Minerva carelessly answered as she moved around herself, finding the room to be nothing but a simple, dirty room. Even Elias seemed to be disinterested in the room as he played with his teddy bear whilst babbling out loud.

Clara kept looking over every second or so, surprised that even the baby seemed less scared than she was. Fortunately, she didn't feel alone with Ally beside her, "Do you feel like you're being watched?" she asked.

- _I'm not real and even **I** feel watched_ \- Ally answered as she walked to the threshold they'd came in through.

"What does being watched feel like?" called the Doctor, "Is it that funny tickly feeling on your neck?"

"That's the chap," Clara nodded.

"Then, yes, a bit. Well, quite a big bit," the Doctor felt uneasy and put away his sonic. He went to the other door of the room but stopped right in front of it when he felt a sudden cold wave. When he exhaled he could see his breath!

Clara heard a creaking and scraping noise and gasped, "I think she's here!"

Minerva was a bit distracted watching her husband repeatedly taking steps forwards and back, "What the hell are you doing?" she went over and stopped him before he complained about dizziness.

"Cold spot," the Doctor shared his theory with her before beginning the cycle again, "Cold…" he stepped forwards, "...warm…" he took the step back, "Cold…warm...cold...warm…"

Elias looked up from his teddy bear. ' _Is it the ghost!? Is she coming!?_ '

"You need to stop being excited of the wrong things, dear," Minerva fiddled with Elias hand as the baby babbled on out loud again.

- _Clara, calm down_ \- Ally told the brunette who'd gone a little more frantic than needed, - _Everything is going to be okay_ -

Clara turned to her imaginary friend, not too sure it really would be, "I am not happy," she declared to Ally and the aliens across the room.

' _I am!_ ' Elias cheered and clapped his hands, clearly wanting to prove the brunette wrong.

"Your baby is weird," Clara turned to the aliens.

' _At least I'm not scared_ ,' Elias replied with and out loud babble to her in an almost mocking tone.

Clara raised her eyebrows, concluding, "Still doesn't like me I see."

 _'Nope!'_

"Shh," Minerva gently covered the baby's mouth as if it that were going to stop him from making more remarks.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had drawn a chalk circle around the cold spot on the floor, deciding it was best to pinpoint any others that may come up. He then took Minerva's hand and pulled her into the hallways, without warning Clara though.

- _Uh, Clara, I think it's time to go_ \- Ally pointed the brunette to the empty spot where the trio of aliens had been seconds ago.

"How rude," Clara huffed then rushed to catch up. She found them barely making it down to a different hallway but also heard a distant thudding in the back, "What was that?" she whispered.

- _A noise_ \- Ally's loud response startled her as the imaginary friend had disappeared only to reappear right beside Clara.

"Ah!" Minerva and the Doctor quickly looked back thinking the 'ghost' had finally found them. Clara quickly, sheepishly, smiled and pointed to the empty spot beside her where Ally actually stood, "Ally scared me."

Elias giggled which only made Clara frown.

"Tell your friend this isn't time for games," Minerva harshly ordered before turning away with the giggling infant.

Right around the same time the candelabrum the Doctor was holding had its candles blown out by a surprise gust of wind.

At the sudden darkness he found himself in, Elias began fussing, clearly scared. Minerva wrapped her arms around him and kissed his head, "It's okay, El, Mommy's here. Shh…"

- _Clara, look_ \- Ally pointed the brunette woman to the frosting windows beside them.

Clara blinked, "Oh my God, Doctor, Minerva, look at that," she gestured to the windows. Poor Clara didn't catch a break after hearing another loud, thudding echo this time wasn't very far, "Okay, what is that!?"

"A loud noise, clearly," Minerva responded, reminding Clara of Ally's sarcasm before. Minerva rolled her eyes as she noticed Clara's irritation, "It's for the baby's sake," she gestured to Elias who now had his face covered with his small hands, motioning his fear.

"So what's making it, then?" Clara asked again.

"Don't know, are you making it?" the Doctor curiously asked, though knew there was a very small chance it would be her.

"Of course not!"

With another loud noise, the trio gathered together and Elias began to cry. Whilst Minerva tended to him, Clara began making faces.

"Doctor?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"I may be a teeny, tiny bit terrified."

"Yes?"

"But I'm still a grown-up."

"Mainly, yes, and...?"

"Well, I just really think you should try to stop your son from crying instead of holding my hand."

But the Doctor held out both his hands in front of him, "Clara! I'm not holding your hand!"

All terrified, they looked behind them just as a flash of lightning outlined a figure behind them. The three adults screamed, Elias cried even more, and they all ran off. Their stop came when they entered the parlor room, but things didn't stop there. There was a black, swirling disk in the air!

- _Are we in a movie or something?_ \- Ally asked from the staircase as the others rushed down, - _Because this is beyond creepy!_ -

"Has this happened before!?" Minerva asked Alec and Emma while the Doctor frantically ran scans of the disc with the sonic.

"Never!" Alec was still in shock as he stared at the rotating disk in the air.

"Camera!" the Doctor held a hand back for the camera, "Camera!" once received, he flashed cameras of it.

Emma began getting that same sensation of the 'ghost' and was led to the archway. She gasped as a distorted figure appeared underneath it, even hearing some type of shouting.

Ally, who'd been watching from the staircase, called for Clara, - _Clara, have them look!_ -

The brunette blinked as she turned to see what Emma and Ally were looking at, "Doctor, Minerva…"

"Help me!" cried the ghost.

Emma gasped deeply and nearly collapsed on the floor if Alec hadn't caught her. The Doctor had thankfully taken pictures of the 'ghost' and was just gathering his bearings when Clara called again.

Written across the wall of the staircase were the glowing words 'Help Me' which disappeared almost as nearly as it had appeared.

~ 0 ~

Some time later, the Doctor and Alec had gone into a dark room to get the pictures from the camera. Meanwhile that occurred, Minerva, Clara and Emma retreated to the sidebar in the parlor room. As Clara poured whiskey into three glasses, Minerva tried handling the fussing Elias in her arms.

"Elias, please," the ginger pleased with a sigh as she shifted the baby from one side of her lap to another.

' _No, Mommy, no_ ,' the baby shook his head, his small hands repeatedly trying to push Minerva's hands off him. In real talk he only babbled letter noises.

"What's wrong with him?" Clara glanced over her shoulder.

"He's tired," Emma blurted then quickly seemed to regret it by her widened eyes, "I'm sorry," she apologized to Minerva, "Sometimes these feelings just come to me and I end up saying them out loud."

Minerva chuckled, "Why are you apologizing? You're right, he's tired," she picked up Elias to rest his head on her shoulder, "I woke him up earlier today and it's way past his bedtime."

"So why won't he go to sleep?" Clara turned and handed Emma her glass then motioned for Minerva her own.

"No thanks, I don't like alcohol very much," Minerva shook her head, "and he won't go to sleep because he doesn't have his blanket nor pacifier."

' _And Roger!_ ' Elias made sure to remind, sounding very crossed.

"And his teddy bear," Minerva added, "The Doctor took it with him into the dark room."

Elias whimpered on purpose to see who would go get his bear for him. Minerva rolled her eyes, knowing he wouldn't stop until his demand was met.

"If you want, I can go get it," Clara volunteered as she set the glass of whiskey down, deciding she preferred tea instead.

"Would you?" Minerva asked.

' _No! She can't touch Roger!_ ' Elias quickly pulled his head up, giving a small scowl at Clara.

Clara lifted an eyebrow, meeting his gaze, "Let me guess, I'm not welcomed to get Roger, am I!"

Elias nodded, covering his eyes to end the conversation.

"I'm sorry," Minerva honestly said. Elias had not desisted in his idea that he didn't like Clara.

"If it makes you feel better, El, I'll use this to bring Roger back," Clara grabbed as white cloth on the table.

' _Don't call me 'El'_ ,' the baby lowered his hands a bit.

"Was that a yes?" Clara whispered to Minerva.

"Yes," the ginger nodded. Clara beamed and went off to retrieve the bear. Minerva sat Elias down on her lap again, "Elias, you need to be nicer to Clara. Even if she is keeping a secret we have to be nice."

"Secret?" Emma repeated, curiously looking at the ginger.

Minerva looked past the psychic to see if Clara was truly gone and when she felt safe enough she spoke honestly, "I think by now you know that we're not here for the ghost."

"You're here for Clara," Emma said, having felt some distrust between the ginger and her husband against Clara, "Why?"

"Because there is something she is not telling us. It's something that even my baby knows about but won't say. She has this imaginary friend, Ally, and Elias can see her. Now I know it's 1974 but I'm sure we understand imaginary friends are seen only by their creator. I don't know what Clara did to create this creature, but the Doctor and I need to know before it hurts us…"

"She's scared," Emma whispered after a moment of concentration, "This woman is scared...and guilty. I don't think she's a bad person."

"But why is Clara scared and guilty? What did she do?" Minerva wondered if Clara was aware that they knew she'd already copied or cloned herself twice in their past.

Emma shook her head and responded with words that made Minerva freeze, "I never said it was Clara."

"But...but if…" Minerva couldn't even make a comprehensible sentence when her mind was racing to new theories. She didn't know whether to feel more afraid now...she probably would be.

"Minerva!" the Doctor came running into the room with the camera in hand. Clara came behind him, looking pretty peeved she'd made the trip for nothing.

At the sight of his father, Elias squealed and leaned towards him, his small hands reaching out - not to be held though.

"Heard you were looking for this, El," the Doctor came into the sidebar and pulled out Roger from his pocket. Elias quickly took it from him and hugged the bear tightly as possible.

"What are you up to?" Minerva curiously asked her husband, seeing the camera in hand meant there was a plan brewing in that head of his.

"We're going out," the Doctor announced and pulled her up by a hand.

"Out? Where?" but Minerva didn't get a proper answer as she dragged towards the door.

"That's not very nice," Clara remarked as she followed behind. They stopped at the doorway to get their umbrellas.

"What exactly are we doing?" Minerva asked once more as the Doctor grabbed their large, black umbrella which would fit both and Elias underneath.

"Taking pictures, my love, that's what," the Doctor tapped her nose and Elias' who giggled in response.

"Couldn't we do that here?" Clara wondered as she grabbed her red umbrella.

"Nope," the Doctor pushed open the door and stepped out into the front porch, pulling Minerva out next.

Minerva had placed Elias back into the papoose and held an arm tightly around him. It was still pouring rain out and the last thing she wanted was for him to get wet and sick. As a young Moontsay (that was only half anyways) his body defenses were not as strong as any other Moontsay. There needed to be precautions.

So, they all went out into the rain, rushing to reach the TARDIS. Clara stopped beside Minerva while they waited for the Doctor to unlock the box.

"I've got this weird feeling it's looking at me," Clara confessed as she eyed the blue box, "It doesn't like me."

Ally appeared beside her with arms crossed, - _No she does not_ \- she agreed and earned a mock glare from Clara, - _You said it, not me_ -

"Didn't mean you could agree," Clara replied back, missing the nervous looks of Minerva.

They hurried inside once the TARDIS was unlocked. Minerva put her umbrella to hang on a rail and went towards the console chair. Meanwhile, Clara looked for a proper place to hang her umbrella, "Hey, you need a place to keep these," she called to the pair.

"We've got one," the Doctor looked around and realized they did indeed not have one, "I think we had one. Look around, see if you find it. Did I have one? Am I going mad?"

- _Clara, I don't think that's a good idea_ \- Ally said as the brunette began to shake her umbrella.

"No, not in here!" the Doctor scolded Clara for her actions and ran to take it from her, "How do you expect her to like you? She's soaking wet! It's a health and safety nightmare," he put the umbrella next to the one Minerva had placed on the rails.

Clara sheepishly looked up at the ceiling, "Sorry," she whispered to the box.

"So... where we going?" Minerva asked after removing Elias from the papoose and setting it on the console chair, "and how long is going to take? Elias is getting very fussy."

"Couple of minutes…maybe more," the Doctor swayed his head.

Even Elias seemed to dislike the answer as he began whimpering again, resting the back of his head on his mother's chest. Why did catching the ghost need to take so long, he wondered.

"So, when are we going?" Clara inquired, making the Doctor have a nice chuckle to himself.

"We're going always," the Doctor started for the downstairs level, leaving the women to look over the rails.

"We're going always?" Clara repeated and glanced at Minerva for the translation.

Minerva shrugged, "I don't know this time."

"Ah," Elias wearily agreed with her mother, his eyes half closed. It was much warmer in the TARDIS than in the ghost house and his Mommy was holding him so comfortably. All he needed really was his blanket and pacifier and he could finally fall asleep.

Clara smiled at the nearly asleep infant, "Maybe you can put him to bed already," she pointed and made Minerva see Elias' current condition.

"Maybe…" she agreed.

"Clever Girl, look what I got?" the Doctor returned holding a very familiar orange space suit in his hands.

Minerva looked at the suit in disgust, recalling the last moment he'd worn one of those suits.

"Color's a bit boisterous," it was Clara who'd answered.

- _He looks like an orange_ \- Ally chimed in beside her, making Clara bite down a laugh.

"I think it brings out my eyes," the Doctor cheerfully smiled.

- _And it hurts ours_ \- added Ally who was then able to make Clara laugh.

The Doctor's smile faded at the laughter, "What's so funny?"

"Ally said it made her eyes hurt."

"Ha!" Minerva exclaimed, actually finding the comment funny. The Doctor dropped his arms dejectedly at the trio's laughter, "I'm sorry dear," Minerva apologized, "I think I'll go see if I can put Elias down for some sleep in the meantime. I'll be back soon."

"Night, El," called the Doctor but received a small flap of a hand from the infant in return. He chuckled, it was way past his bedtime.

~ 0 ~

By the time Minerva returned the Doctor had gone off into their last stop of his camera spree throughout the ages of the planet. Clara was left looking at the monitor which contained the image of a near dying Earth.

"You okay, Clara?" Minerva asked after studying the brunette's face.

"Totally. Peachy keen," Clara plastered on a smile for show.

- _You're such a liar_ \- Ally shook her head.

"You're such a liar," Minerva crossed her arms, making Clara sigh and give up her charade.

"I think just watched the entire life cycle of the Earth - birth to death."

"Oh," Minerva couldn't find the problem with that, even when she thought really hard.

Clara noticed how carelessly Minerva considered the topic, "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," the ginger nodded.

"But...how?" Clara blinked, truthfully misunderstanding how calm she could remain when talking about this, "I mean, one minute you're in 1974, looking for ghosts but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there. To you and the Doctor, I haven't been born yet... and to you, I've been dead 100 billion years. Is my body out there somewhere? In the ground?"

Minerva's eyes lowered, her mind thinking back to the two previous Clara's they'd met, "I suppose you are."

"But here we are, talking. So I am a ghost. To you, I'm a ghost... we're all ghosts to you two. We must be nothing."

At that, Minerva barked a laugh, "If you were nothing we wouldn't ever have human companions. Before you came, the Ponds were here and they were humans and we thought how special and important they were. Before them was my ginger sister, Donna, and boy was she important to the universe. Before her was my best friend, Martha, who was just as important and remarkable. Don't you dare stand there and tell me the Doctor and I think you're nothing."

"Then what are we?" Clara asked, having thought the speech was beautiful and all but it didn't really answer anything, "What can we possibly be to centuries-old aliens, one whom is a Queen I hear," she gestured to Minerva.

Minerva rolled her eyes, "Humans are a big ole mystery; have been since I was a kid. Your species is our fascination, Clara. You awe us, all of you."

"We're like a science project to you, then," Clara said, slightly amused at the thought. She did feel relieved, though.

Especially you, thought Minerva as her eyes drifted to the side where she was pretty sure Clara's 'imaginary friend' stood.

"Coming through!" the Doctor exclaimed as he barged into the room, holding his camera in one arm.

"Well, someone's had an adventure without me," Minerva turned to him with a sarcastic smile.

"Well," the Doctor handed her the camera which she placed on the console chair while he removed his helmet, "you could've gone if you wanted to."

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "I was putting your son to sleep, remember? Just because his dad likes diddly daddling through the universe doesn't mean my poor baby has to miss his sleep."

"Fine, next time I'll put him to bed," the Doctor promised with a hand raised, "and then his mother can go gallivanting through the world herself."

"That's all I'm asking for," Minerva sarcastically shrugged.

"You're both so weird," Clara declared afterwards, having watched the entire conversation from her spot, "and Ally agrees."

- _Agreed_ \- Ally nodded.

"You're just jealous you don't have a wife like mine," the Doctor sent a cheeky grin as he started leading Minerva towards the downstairs floor.

Clara rolled her eyes, "Not precisely looking for an alien wife you know!" she called.

"Better not be!" she heard the shouting response back followed by the giggles of Minerva.

"Oh brother," Clara muttered under her breath and distracted herself with Ally and the camera left behind.

~ 0 ~

While Minerva stayed behind in the TARDIS to look after the napping baby, the Doctor and Clara returned to Caliburn House to explain to Alec and Emma what the ghost really was. He had set up up a projector for the he humans filled with pictures he'd taken with the TARDIS jumps.

"What exactly are we looking at?" Emma asked once the projector had been turned on.

"The Ghost of Caliburn House," the Doctor pointed, "Whom up to now everyone has believed her to be trapped in a never ending moment of fear and torment...but in reality she's not."

"She's not…?"

"What if she's just trapped somewhere time runs more slowly than it does here? What if a second to her was 100,000 years to us? And what if somebody has a magic box - a blue box, probably - what if said somebody could take a snapshot of her, say, every few million years? She's not a ghost... but she's definitely a lost soul. Her name's Hila Tacorian. She's a pioneer, a time traveler - or at least she will be, in a few hundred years."

"Time travel's not possible," Alec cut in, "The paradoxes…"

"Resolve themselves, by and large."

"How long has she been alone?" asked Emma.

"Well, time travel's a funny old thing. I mean, from her perspective, she crash landed…" the Doctor lifted his wrist to see his watch, "...three minutes ago."

"Where exactly did she crash?" Clara inquired curiously after thinking the waste of time he was procuring by explaining here when he could just use the TARDIS to save Hila.

"She's in a pocket universe... a distorted echo of our own - they happen sometimes but never last for long," the Doctor said, a hint of concern in his tone. For an example her blew up a red balloon and a blue one, "Our universe," he motioned to the red one, "Hila Tacorian's here," he nodded to the blue balloon, "in a pocket universe. You're a lantern, shining across the dimensions, guiding her home. Back to the land of the living," he brought both balloons and let them deflate.

"But what's she running from?" Clara expectantly waited for the slides to be switched.

"Well," the Doctor beamed like a child would, "that's the best bit: we don't know yet. Shall we see?" Clara nodded and the Doctor used the sonic to change the slide. However, upon doing so, the excitement faded from his face and he suddenly thanked the stars Elias wasn't there to see such a foul creature, "Oh…"

Ally appeared right in front of the projection and stared hard at the creature, - _Yikes, what the hell is that?_ -

"What is that?" Clara repeated the question to the Doctor.

"I don't know…" the Doctor then clapped his hands and turned to them, "Not to worry."

"So, what do we do?" Emma asked, assuming he already had a plan judging by how unconcerned he was.

"Not 'we', you..." he clarified and went up to the woman, "you save Hila Tacorian because you're Emma Grayling. You are the lantern - the rest of us are just along for the ride, I'm afraid," he began looking around, making note of what they would need, "We need some sturdy rope and a blue crystal from Metebelis Three. Plus, some Kendal Mint Cake."

Clara saw him heading for the doors again and quickly followed, "So, we need the TARDIS again?"

"Oh yes," he nodded and motioned for her to grab the umbrella. There was a lot to do before they could actually save Hila.

~ 0 ~

"So there's a monster in the other world?" Minerva asked after hearing the discovery of what laid in the pocket universe and was chasing Hila around.

"Scary one," Clara made sure to emphasize since the Doctor was working underneath the console and couldn't quite hear them right.

There was a squeal just around the console and Clara turned around to Elias, who sat over a blanket, excitedly playing with the balloons the Doctor had earlier. Much to Minerva's dismay, the baby had woken up again and refused to go to sleep. He was still dressed for sleep, wearing a baby-blue onesie – Minerva still had hope he'd fall asleep sooner or later.

Clara smiled and walked over to the infant, bending down and reaching for the teddy bear that had been thrown to the side, "Let's get this for you, El," but Elias then frantically flapped his hands at her, making her stop.

' _No touching Roger! He's my teddy bear! And don't call me El!_ '

Clara listened to the severe babbles she didn't need translation for to know that the baby was angry with her once again, "Sorry…"

Minerva heard the commotion and walked over, "Elias, there's no need to be rude."

Clara rose to her feet and put her hands behind her back, "Not allowed to touch his toys, am I?"

"Um, no, sorry."

"Yeah, whatever," Clara shrugged, "When I was a little girl I had this doll no one could touch or I would just lose it."

Minerva smiled as she returned Roger to Elias who quickly took it into his small arms, thinking Clara would once again try to touch it, "I know, my grandfather says I had this little bracelet that I wouldn't let anyone touch or I would send them to the dungeon."

"You have a dungeon on your planet?" Clara blinked at the ginger, stunned. She'd heard brief things about the Monsoon and was yet to visit the planet.

"No, but when I was four I wanted one so that my threats would be followed through."

"Oh…nice…"

Minerva just smiled in return, understanding the human was overall awed by what she heard, "Doctor?" she called out instead, "How's it coming?"

"Almost...done!" she heard the grunt below, indicating he was no where near done.

"I don't understand," Clara crossed her arms and tilted her head in thought, "Why can't you just fly the TARDIS into the parallel universe?"

"Technically, it's not a parallel universe," Minerva reminded with a wagging finger, "It's a POCKET universe. Plus, it is collapsing. the TARDIS could get in there, all right, but entropy would bleed her power sources. Trap her there until the entire universe decayed back into the quantum foam. Which would take about three minutes, give or take."

"Well," Clara blinked, realizing how much more difficult things were. Here she thought they were just wasting time!

~ 0 ~

Emma found herself being sat down in the middle of the parlor room with a 'wire crown' being placed over her head. Apparently she was the only one who could open up a portal to bring Hila Tacorian through. But her eyes kept scanning the room full of intricate wires and clocks which made her remember just how scared she really was.

"What does this do exactly?" she asked the Doctor and pointed to her 'crown'.

While the Doctor worked the sonics over the clocks, Minerva explained to her, "It amplifies your natural abilities - like a microphone almost."

Alec watched all the clocks suddenly start ticking in confusion, "What exactly is this arrangement?"

"A psychochronograph," the Doctor answered as Minerva helped him into a harness.

"Forgive me, but isn't it all a bit, well... make-do and mend?"

"This is sort of the way he works," Clara made an input from her spot across the room. She was placed near Elias to keep an eye on the infant even though he seemed fairly occupied playing with his balloons.

"Non-psychic technology won't work where I'm going," the Doctor clarified, "All I need to do is dive into another dimension, find the traveler, help her escape the monster, get home before the entire dimension collapses and Bob's your uncle."

"Doctor? Will it hurt?" a sheepish Emma asked.

Before the Doctor could say something, Minerva answered in a gentle tone, "We don't really know, Emma, sorry. But we promise to make it quick."

"Now Clever Girl," the Doctor turned Minerva around, giving her a sharp look, "We're clear on the plan right? I go, you stay?"

"Yes," Minerva flashed a smile and motioned to get into position. She gave him a kiss before walking over to Clara and picked up Elias from the floor.

Emma leaned back on her chair and took a deep breath, "I'm talking to the lost soul that abides in this place. I'm speaking to Hila Tacorian."

Some of the clocks began ticking backwards as wind began picking up and the disc from earlier began appearing across. Glass shattered in the room but no one seemed to mind as they were all focused on the growing portal.

"See? The Witch of the Well! It's a wormhole!" the Doctor hooked a rope to the harness, " A reality well! A door to the echo universe!" he glanced back at Emma, "Ready?"

"READY!"

He then glanced at his wife and son, giving them a nod. Minerva waved and so he got ready. With a crack of his neck, he shrugged and mumbled, "Geronimo," then ran for the wormhole.

Minerva stepped forwards and watched the rope come to a stop indicating the Doctor had landed. She waited a couple of minutes before putting Elias down on the floor, pressing a kiss to his head then hurrying towards the rope.

Clara watched the actions with confusion, "Uh, what are you doing?" she asked.

"What I always do, dear," Minerva put a hand on the rope and began icing, the trail of it going into the wormhole, "I'm going to help my husband save the day."

' _Mommy_?' Elias asked, ' _You said you would stay_.'

Minerva smiled at him, "Mommy will be right back, I promise. And she'll bring your dad back too. Be good, El. _"_

"I don't think this is a good idea, Minerva," Clara voiced her concern, "Who knows what's out there. And, your son!" she gestured to the staring baby on the floor.

"I will be back," Minerva promised, "Just keep an eye on him okay? If anything happens to him I'll kill you."

Clara roughly swallowed hard, quickly nodding, "Got it!"

With that, Minerva ran towards the wormhole, using the icy rope to swiftly slide through into the pocket universe.

Clara looked down at Elias who'd suddenly dropped interest in his balloons and now intently stared at the wormhole, awaiting his parents to return like his Mommy promised they would.

~ 0 ~

In the pocket universe, the Doctor was trying to find the missing Hila. He ran through the woods, actively calling her name but had to stop when he heard a noise not too far from him. He stopped and decided to slowly walk, now cautiously looking around.

On a highly close sound he turned around, ready to face what ever wanted to fight him...but he crashed into someone instead.

"OW!" Minerva stumbled back and rubbed her forehead.

Bewildered for a minute to see his wife standing there, the Doctor stared, then, "What are you doing here!?" he erupted into shouts, "You said you were staying back! You lied! And you left Elias! And-"

Minerva raised a finger at the man, her eyes narrowing, "Are you _yelling_ at _me_?"

The Doctor's eyes widened and he quickly shook his head, "Nooooo I am not!"

"That's what I thought too," she walked up to him and took his hand, "And now, together, let's go find Hila," she gave an encouraging smile before the two rushed off, hand in hand.

~ 0 ~

In the real universe, everyone waited with anticipation for the return of their friends. However, none stared more than small Elias and Clara. Clara didn't want to say anything but it appeared Emma was growing weary.

- _Keep calm, Clara_ \- Ally appeared beside her, - _Right now, Elias is literally feeding off your emotions. You look confident, he will be too_ -

Clara's eyes looked down at Elias who seemed more or less calm.

"I'm not strong enough!" Emma cried suddenly, making Clara run towards the woman.

"Just a few more seconds!" she assured and flinched when Emma screamed.

And sure enough, the rope began melting off the ice Minerva had covered it with. The rope tugged, indicating someone was returning. Alec quickly went to work the crank until a stranger, a woman, fell into the room with a cry.

At that precise moment, Emma gasped and fell out of the chair.

"No!" cried Clara at the same time Ally did. Both went to the spot the wormhole had just been and saw there was no link left.

~ 0 ~

In the pocket universe, Minerva and the Doctor were distraught to find themselves back in the forest, the echo of the Caliburn house gone along with the portal.

"Suddenly this doesn't feel like the good plan I thought it was," Minerva breathed shakily in. The Doctor took her hand once more, "Theta, our baby," she looked at him tearfully, "I left him alone…"

It suddenly struck her how irresponsible she had been earlier. She had thought everything was going to be fine, she'd been too confident...and now their baby was alone for the first time, unable to know if his parents would truly return.

~ 0 ~

Clara heard the cloister bells of of the TARDIS from outside, though she didn't understand what they were for. Ally flashed to Emma's and Alec's side, frantically pointing at Emma, - _Clara! We need her to get the portal open!_ -

Alec was cradling a sobbing Emma in his arms when Clara ran over, "You need to open up the portal!"

"She can't. Look at her," Alec frowned but Clara wasn't having it.

"She _has_ to!"

For a moment, there were hard stares in silence...and then a baby whimpered. Clara whirled around just as Elias began to cry.

"Oh n-n-n-n-no!" she got up and ran to him, quickly picking him up along with his stuffed bear, "Look? Look? It's Roger!" she waved the bear in front of him but Elias continued to cry, paying no attention to the bear.

His Mommy and Daddy were gone because the woman couldn't keep the portal open. Now they were trapped with the monster his Daddy talked about. How would they get back!? _Could_ they get back!? He couldn't grow up without his parents, there was no way! But he was too small to do anything - he couldn't even walk!

- _The TARDIS_ \- Ally pointed at the window, - _Maybe we can use it to get them back_ -

Clara didn't waste time and dashed out the house with the crying infant in her arms. She ran straight for the TARDIS but found the doors wouldn't open for her.

"Oh, come on! Let me in, you grumpy old cow!"

- _Because she's gonna like that?_ \- Ally mocked a glare at Clara.

Clara ignored the comment as she heard a buzzing noose behind them. She turned to find a copy of herself standing across.

"What's this now?" she frowned.

"Ah! Ay! Ah! Ah!" Elias angrily shouted through his cries. The box was playing games while his parents needed help, "Ay! Ay!"

Clara fumbled with the angry baby as she listened to her copy speak.

"The TARDIS Voice Visual Interface. I'm programmed to select the image of a person you esteem. Of several billion such images in my data banks, this one best meets the criterion."

Clara glared at the copy, "Oh, you are a _cow_. I knew it! Whatever. You have to help the Doctor and Minerva."

"They are in the pocket universe."

"You can enter the pocket universe."

"The entropy would drain the energy from my heart. In four seconds, I'd be stranded. In ten, I'd be dead."

"Ah! Tt! Ay!" Elias started flapping his hands over Clara's arm that held him, "Tt!"

"Even he's angry with you," Clara pointed to the baby, "You're talking but all I hear is, "Meh meh, meh." Come on, let's go!"

But the projection stayed still, simply staring at her.

Elias grew even more angry seeing no action was being taken and suddenly, his mouth uttered, "TAYIS! TAYIS! TAYIS!"

Blinking with wide eyes, Clara looked down at the baby, "You just said your first word...but you're only 9 months!"

- _And **alien**!_ \- Ally reminded her.

Elias could care less about his 'first word', he was trying to make a point, "Tayis! Tayis!" he shouted to the TARDIS, "Tayis!"

"Wait," Clara gasped once she remembered something important. She looked up at the copy of herself which was only staring back at them. "Minerva and the Doctor once told me that if anything were to happen to them, you-" she pointed at the copy, "-would then pass onto be Elias' TARDIS. Well, they're not here. They're gone. So you are now Elias' and _he_ is _your_ **_pilot_**!" she ended up with a loud shout. "And he is _commanding_ you to _open these doors_!"

The copy disappeared suddenly. A minute later, the TARDIS doors opened up.

"Oh thank God I was right!" Clara mumbled to herself and hurried right in.

- _Clara, not a moment to waste!_ \- Ally was already inside the TARDIS awaiting for her friend.

Clara ran inside holding the baby tighter and shut the doors behind them, "Okay, so how do we do this?" She looked at all the different buttons on the console, "Ideas?" She looked around, seeing her options were an alien baby and her imaginary friend.

"TAYIS!" Elias cried and leaned forwards to the console, "TAYIS!"

The TARDIS began lighting up on its own, something Clara wasn't expecting as she flinched, "Woah…" she rocked on her feet, the blue box clearly beginning to move.

- _Clara! Get the baby into the papoose, NOW!_ \- Ally shouted, the woman standing perfectly still as the box rumbled about.

However she could, Clara reached the jump chair and quickly put it over herself, ignoring the cries of Elias, "It's for your safety!" she argued with him.

"AH!" the baby argued back with the only two words he currently had in his vocabulary. He only wanted to get his parents back and Clara was wasting time with...safety? Who cares about safety!

The TARDIS violently shook as it went through the time vortex, the three inhabitants trying to keep up with the ruckus. Clara had an arm protectively around Elias whilst she shouted in horror. Ally stood across the console, seemingly calm and investigating the controls like she would be able to use them.

At the sound of a bleep, she hurried to the monitor, "We're in the pocket universe!" she announced and glanced beside the rotor to Clara and Elias, - _We're almost there!_ -

Elias squealed happily, not looking the least bit scared unlike the human carrying him.

~ 0 ~

Outside, Minerva and the Doctor had just been attacked by the monster that was chasing them. Minerva was the first to see the blue box flying in the sky, a tad crazy even for the TARDIS, "Doctor...look?" she pointed upwards.

The TARDIS passed over them and knocked the creature away from them.

"But who's driving?" the Doctor had to wonder in his amusement.

"Who cares!" snapped Minerva with a wave of a hand, "We have to jump!"

And just as the TARDIS passed again, they leaped and clung to the wood of the time traveling box.

~ 0 ~

Clara and Ally felt the thud from inside and Elias had to giggle now that he knew his parents were coming back with them.

"Tayis! Tayis! Tayis!" he clapped his hands excitedly.

In her amusement, Clara looked down at the chanting baby and playfully rolled her eyes, "Oh, _now_ you're all happy!"

~ 0 ~

In the real universe, Emma was to the brink of passing out once again but she maintained herself firm - even through her shrill scream - as she sustained the wormhole once again. She only let everything go when she saw the Doctor and Minerva coming through...along with a blue box? It didn't matter, point was they were back and she could finally let the wormhole go. She fell to her knees with a deep gasp and quickly threw off the crown from her head.

Minerva and the Doctor looked at each other with wide eyes, still shocked of everything that happened in literally five minutes.

But they forgot all that when the TARDIS door opened up and Clara stepped out, her hair heavily disheveled from the ride. She held out Elias as if he were a football, "I believe...this is yours," she released a heavy breath.

"My baby!" Minerva quickly snatched her son from Clara and hugged him tight, setting all sorts of kisses over his head. The Doctor wasted no time to get to his family and hold them both tightly in his arms.

"Hey there, El, sorry for being long," he smiled at the baby and pressed a kiss to his soft, ginger hair.

Elias giggled happily and snuggled his head to his mother's neck, one hand reaching to play with his father's hand. Everything was as it should be now. "Tayis," he said quietly and shut his eyes with a small yawn signaling it was time for sleep.

Minerva shared a stunned look with the Doctor as they processed what they'd just heard.

"I heard 'Tayis', did you hear 'Tayis'?" Minerva whispered.

The Doctor gave a nod, "I heard 'Tayis'."

Clara stood by the doorway of the TARDIS with a big smile, "He wanted the TARDIS to open up so he called it by its name…"

Slowly, Minerva began smiling and chuckling, "He said his first word!" she grabbed the Doctor's hand, "He said 'Tayis'! His first word!"

Excited as well, the Doctor gave her a kiss, "He's growing up!"

And to signal the start of a another, hopefully good, day, they felt the rays of the sun coming up from the window.

~ 0 ~

Minerva came out of the house with Emma walking beside her, "I don't understand what you meant earlier," she remarked quietly.

"About Clara?" Emma guessed the answer.

"About her...and her 'friend'," Minerva put air quoation marks in the air.

"I only said what I felt," Emma raised her hands in defeat and came to a stop just at the doorway of the house, "I don't know what it means either, to be honest."

"Well I…" Minerva began when she saw the Doctor coming towards them, holding a sleeping Elias in his arms.

"Did you ask?" he looked at Minerva curiously, still in the dark of what Emma had told Minerva earlier in the night.

"I was just getting to that," Minerva put on a fake smile and warned Emma with a stern look to keep quiet.

Confused, Emma's eyes flickered between the pair, "Um...about Clara?"

"We need to know what Clara is," Minerva crossed her arms and waited for Emma to respond.

"She's a girl," Emma honestly answered, lightly shrugging.

"Yes, but what kind of girl? Specifically," the Doctor added, anxiously awaiting for the answer.

"She's a perfectly ordinary girl," Emma reiterated, "She's pretty, clever, and with a great imagination too."

"But she's...26," the Doctor mumbled quietly, "and she has an imaginary friend Minerva and I believe is more than just...imaginary. Our son," he gestured to the baby he held, "can see her."

"Look, I can't tell you much because I really don't know much," Emma sighed, "Clara's more scared than she lets on...but...she's not the only one scared."

"Who else, then?" the Doctor inquired, glancing to see Minerva biting her index finger nail, "Clever Girl?"

Minerva sighed and dropped her arm to her side, "She says Ally's scared, guilty and…"

"Not a bad person," Emma finished.

"So...that's it, then...Ally's a _real_ being," the Doctor blinked, knowing this was something they already suspected but seeing that it was actually true was something else.

"Thank you, Emma," Minerva whispered and turned to leave. With her went the Doctor, both unsure how to even discuss the matter now.

Ally was real. She couldn't be seen except by Clara and Elias, so how could they figure more about her?

~ 0 ~

Later that day, or night since no one had slept, Minerva sat on the side of her bed, dressed for sleep. It had taken a little longer to get back to the TARDIS for proper rest since they had to take the monster of the pocket universe and the other monster that had apparently been living in the Caliburn house all the way to a new planet where the two beings could live together in peace. Now that she finally had some peace she started thinking about the day she'd had...since the point of waking up. The distraction the Doctor had offered was good but all things came to an end and her mind couldn't help to think of her adoptive mother...or rather her ex-adoptive mother. The tears were quick to form in her eyes along with sniffles.

She thought she would've had more time to cry alone since the Doctor had kept true to his word and gone to put Elias to bed all by himself. However, ten minutes later, she heard the door opening signaling she'd been caught.

"Guess who wanted to sleep with his Mummy tonight?" the Doctor asked with a chuckle as he came into the room holding Elias, the baby clutching his teddy bear and blinking rapidly until he saw his mother.

' _Can I please stay here, Mommy? I promise I won't play this time.'_

Minerva quickly wiped her face dry and took a breath before getting up and turning to them, "Of course you can," she held her arms out for Elias.

"You've been crying," the Doctor immediately could tell as he stepped closer to hand over Elias.

Minerva gave a crooked smile, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I wanted to go to sleep but then my mind got to thinking about So...Sophia," she swallowed a lump down her throat.

Elias made a face and shook his head, ' _Mean lady!_ '

"A very mean lady indeed," the Doctor walked them back to the bed, "And no where near a grandmother nor a mother."

"I just wanted her to see Elias, give her a chance to get to know him, but…" Minerva sighed, holding Elias closer to her, "Instead she lashed out on him and it was my fault. I was a terrible mother to you, Arlo, and I'm sorry for that."

Elias reached out to touch her cheek, ' _My mommy's the best! Always the best!_ '

"You think so?" she raised an eyebrow.

Elias nodded his head and did his best to lean forwards, leaving a sloppy baby kiss on her cheek. Minerva chuckled then felt another kiss on her other cheek.

"And you're the best wife," the Doctor added with a cheeky smile.

' _The best! The best! The best!_ ' Elias chanted in their minds, soon getting the Doctor join out loud.

"My boys," Minerva chuckled again, blushing with all the attention she was receiving.

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist, tugging her closer, "You're our favorite girl," he turned her head and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

Elias happily snuggled closer to Minerva and yawned quietly. The last thing he saw was his parents smiling at each other with the looks he knew meant everything was fine again. He liked when things were fine in his family. They didn't need that mean human lady that was mean to his Mommy.

He had everyone he wanted and loved, and that was just fine.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

So sorry for the late update buuuuut I am so happy that Summer vacation has officially started. I hope to have plenty of time to continue writing and publishing new things here and there! But for now, what do you think about this chapter? Personally, this was one of my favorite episodes in the season.

 ** _For Reviews:_**

I assumed you meant I was giving some of the Doctor's lines to Minerva? There's no real reason for that except for the fact I don't want you guys reading basically the exact episode. And then I do feel like at times Minerva would be the one to say the lines :)

I laugh when 11 mocks everyone laughing at him like that is such a doctor-y thing to do xD. No, not Captain Jack unfortunately...it was Sophia! But, but, to make up for it I added in a brief snippet of our dear 12 ;) Ooooh well my reviews on that season is that it's all so GREAT. It truly is one of Capaldi's best seasons! And Pearl Mackie - Bill - is doing a PERFECT job as the new companion. I love the relationship the characters have! Duuuude that sounds tiring and I admire you for being able to handle all of that! Stay strong 3.

* * *

Sooo, next chapter is actually one of my favorites. If we remember what it is then we know someone gets stuck in malfunctioning TARDIS ;)


	12. Into the TARDIS

Clara walked around the console with her arms crossed while she listened to the Doctor go on and on about the problem between her and the TARDIS. "You said…"

"I know what I said," Clara cut him off, quite put out they were really discussing this, "I was the one who said it," she then cast a mocking glare towards Elias, who sat on Minerva's lap, both at the jump chair, "I just didn't expect to be ratted out by a _baby_."

Elias looked up from his teddy bear and gave a toothless grin, "Tayis!" he giggled, "Yes!"

"He learns two words and suddenly he's the king of the world," Clara rolled her eyes, "I brought your parents back and you tell them I called the TARDIS a cow?"

The baby clapped his hands cheerfully.

- _Careful what you say around him_ \- Ally appeared beside Clara, - _He'll just repeat everything he hears_ -

"Clara, it's important that you and the TARDIS can work together at least on a civil level," Minerva calmly explained, "You've seen how difficult it gets with us."

"You're not getting me to talk to your ship," Clara outright refused, almost laughing at the idea, "That's properly bonkers."

"Yet you are content living inside of it," Minerva replied with a smile. "So let the Doctor and I teach you at least how to maneuver it."

"I'll make it easy - shut it down to basic mode for you," the Doctor offered and quickly set to work on the console.

Clara raised an eyebrow, "Basic! 'Cos I'm a girl?"

"No, cos you're a human," Minerva rose from the chair, "That's how he taught me, that's how we taught Amy, Martha and Donna. You're gonna be taught just like them."

- _C'mon Clara_ \- Ally nudged Clara, - _It can be fun_ -

Clara rolled her eyes and finally gave in, "Okay, fine."

The Doctor gladly led her to a part of the console and began instructing her. Minerva walked over to see how it was coming, carrying a rather curious Elias as well. He wanted to see what Clara would do with the TARDIS and probably laugh when she failed. His Mommy told him it was always funny when the companions got frustrated because they couldn't work with the console.

Clara flipped a switch as told by the Doctor but frowned upon seeing the lights go off, "What have I done?" she quickly asked the pair, now seeing red lights flashing.

"Er... OK," the Doctor went to another part of the console, confused as well. He took a look at the monitor to see their location but was startled to see the screen cracking down the middle.

"Doctor?" Minerva called, seeing his troubled face.

"All the electrical impulses are jammed. I can't get the shields back up!" he was trying to pull the lever up, "She's completely vulnerable."

Clara panicked thinking she would surely receive the blame, "I swear I just touched it!"

Ally seemed more apprehensive at the situation, her eyes roaming the console room, - _This is something else_ -

The Doctor finally managed to pull the lever but also received harsh sparks from the console. The TARDIS lurched to the side, throwing the trio backwards against the rails.

"Magnetic hobble-field!" the Doctor exclaimed, "We're flying right into it. Minerva, Clara, stay by me!"

"This is insane! Who's responsible!?" Minerva handed Elias over to Clara, the brunette nervously taking the baby, and Minerva ran to help the Doctor.

Whilst trying to carry the fussing Elias, Clara called out, "Please tell me there's a button you can just press to fix this?"

"Oh, yes. Big friendly button," the Doctor distractedly said while working with Minerva to stabilize the TARDIS.

"You're lying," Clara accused, unamused.

"Yep."

"To stop me freaking out?"

"Is it working?"

"Not so much."

"Then quit distracting us and let us work!" Minerva motioned the Doctor to help her with some controls.

Clara saw a small, gray device rolling across the floor. With one hand, she picked it up only to feel a burning sensation. She gasped and let it drop. She didn't have much time to react when another explosion, far more bigger than the last, pushed her away from the console.

~ 0 ~

The trio responsible for the TARDIS' accident looked upon the blue box in their spaceship. The box laid on its side atop of a small pile of wires. After trying to pry it open with several weapons, they realized the box was alive and backed off. There, they realized they'd brought in a ship with its _inhabitants_ still inside.

"We did nothing," one of the men, Gregor, told the other two, "If anyone asks, that ship was already busted. You got that?" he looked at the youngest man, Tricky, "And you, make sure you keep your oily-mouth shut."

"It's rude to whisper, you know," called Minerva who stood behind them with arms crossed, the Doctor right beside her, "Tell me why I shouldn't throw you all into one of my dungeons right now for what you did?"

"We found you drifting," Gregor nervously told the pair.

"Your ship was junked-up pretty bad," added the second man, Bram.

"What broke our ship was a magno-grab," the Doctor then held up the proof, "Found this remote in your pocket. Eh? What are the chances? Outlawed in most galaxies. This little beastie can disable whole vessels unless you have shield oscillators... which I turned off so that Clara could fly…"

"ELIAS!" the alien pair cried upon fully remembering what happened. The two frantically spun around trying to find Clara and Elias through the pile of wires. When they realized Elias and Clara were still on board, they moved to rush towards the TARDIS.

"No, wait, your pod is leaking fuel," it had been Tricky who held them back, "If they're still in there, they're dead."

The sentence was discarded by the pair and they continued to look for a way into the TARDIS.

"Minerva! Respirators!" the Doctor ran over to some lockers.

"We can open the doors for a split second, reach in and grab them," Gregor agreed as the Doctor came back and handed Minerva her own respirator.

"Trust me, we can't. Now, please, help us get them out," the Doctor pleaded and handed the others the respirators.

"I'm telling you, she fried…" Tricky began when Gregor cut him off.

"Shut it, tin-mouth! What sort of fee are we talking?"

"Excuse me!?" Minerva angrily faced the man, " _Fee_? You want a fee after _you_ caused all this? That's a good one."

"Bram, open the bay doors," Gregor ordered before turning to go help himself.

"No, no, please, stop!" the Doctor called, "Listen, listen. Right behind those doors is the salvage of a lifetime."

Minerva was equally terrified as him but her fear was coming out in waves of anger. With one hand she froze all doors in the room, "NO ONE IS GOING ANYWHERE!" she yelled and kept all mean on their spots.

Her son was stuck inside a toxic box alone. Absolutely no one would be leaving until she held him in her arms again.

~ 0 ~

Inside the TARDIS, the corridors were bathed in warning red lights. Wires and debris hung loosely nearly at all points of the floor. Clara laid under a rather large piece of metal, still unconscious.

Ally sat on her knees beside them, trying her best to pull the metal piece off her. She could hear Elias underneath, probably next to Clara, crying, as he waited for someone to pick him up. - _Clara please wake up!_ \- Ally shouted as much as she could. - _I can't pick it up!_ \- she groaned as she tried desperately pulling on the metal piece - _C'mon! CLARA!_ -

Clara stirred slowly, able to hear some distant calls of her name. It was mixed with some other noise, though, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

- _Clara, please! Elias can be hurt!_ -

It was then that Clara's mind configured the other noise to be Elias' crying. Her eyes widened as she shot upright and threw the metal piece off her and consequently Elias. The baby was revealed to be on his side, face red from all the crying he was doing. Clara quickly pulled him into her arms, ignoring the harsh sting she felt from her palm, and checked Elias for any injuries.

- _Finally!_ \- Ally startled her, - _You're awake_ -

"Oh, you're going to be okay," Clara gently wiped some blood off a small cut on Elias' forehead. "Cos you're a strong alien baby, right?"

Elias continued to cry. What was she talking about!? Couldn't she see that his Mommy and Daddy weren't there!?

"How do I get a baby to stop crying?" Clara looked at Ally helplessly. She didn't know the first thing about babies, much less alien babies!

- _He's a baby, Clara. He probably just wants his parents_ \- Ally looked around, finding it a pretty difficult task to find either Minerva or the Doctor in this situation.

"Ooh, I'll find them, Elias," Clara pushed herself up with the baby in her arms. "This isn't the first time you're stuck with me, remember?" she bopped him lightly. "Clara will get you back to your Mummy and Daddy as fast as she can. But you're gonna have to help can't walk but you know the TARDIS better than I do. Let's work together, okay?"

Elias seemed to understand most of what she said. "Yes..." he said quietly.

Clara smiled and cleared off his tears. "So you're gonna have to stop hating for me a couple of hours. Let's go!"

~ 0 ~

Minerva and the Doctor were standing just over the TARDIS, both wearing respirators while the trio of brothers wore protection suits, and the Doctor moved to unlock the TARDIS.

"Salvage of a lifetime?" Gregor called again, still doubting the small box could be anything precious.

"I feel pretty confident we can deliver on that," the Doctor smiled when he heard the locks turning, "There we go," he kicked the doors open and smoked bellowed out. He went under then helped Minerva.

While the TARDIS was on its side, it's interior remained upright.

"I don't get it. I thought she was lying on her side," Gregor looked around, thinking it some sort of trick.

"The TARDIS is special," Minerva waved him off, "She has her own gravity. I'd explain if we had time but…"

"It's... it's bigger…" Tricky blinked as they walked further in.

"On the inside," the Doctor finished from the console, "Do you know, we get that a lot."

"Remove the smoke, Martian," Minerva ordered, she didn't care to go through the whole first impression the TARDIS had on people first coming in.

The Doctor pushed pushed a couple of controls and the smoke was fanned off by the vents. All of them removed their respirators.

Minerva then got to work on laying the foreground, "Alright, so you and I were standing here while Elias and Clara were there," she pointed to the spot Clara had stood at.

"How big is this baby?" Bram asked, all three brothers still looking about in awe.

Minerva was in no mood to be polite and so she answered, "If we could please refrain from asking irrelevant questions until we find Elias and Clara that would be great."

The Doctor grabbed her hand, giving it a grip and telling her telepathically, ' _We'll find them_.' Minerva just looked down, holding his hand like her own life depended on it.

"The ship's infinite," the Doctor told the men.

"It could take you hours to find the girl and kid," Gregor frowned.

"Days! Plus the whole place is toxic," the Doctor agreed, "So, here's the mission. We're going to find them in one hour."

Gregor raised an eyebrow, "We?"

"You're our guys for this," Minerva announced, not too happy about it but time was precious and they would take what they could get.

"That wasn't the deal!"

"'Tis now."

"What makes you think we'll help?"

The Doctor and Minerva exchanged a pair of smirks before they both got to work on the console.

"I just activated the TARDIS self-destruct system. One hour until this ship blows," the Doctor motioned to the monitor displaying the count down.

Bram immediately ran for the door but Minerva iced it shut, "Where you going?" she called, "Corridors are this way," she nodded back, "The doors will open when Elias and Clara are back."

"You crazy lunatics!"

"I prefer the term 'mother who will do anything to get her son back'."

"You'll kill us all," Grego said in full panick, "And your son."

"He's going to die if you don't help us," the Doctor corrected, "Don't get into a spaceship with a madman and-" the three brothers ran for the doors.

Minerva tilted her head, "Doctor, I think they need more persuasion."

"My Clever Girl, always right," the Doctor flicked a switch on the console, lowering the countdown to 30 minutes.

"They'll die even quicker now!" Bram shouted at them from the doors.

"We all perform better under pressure. Anybody want to go for 15 minutes?" Minerva motioned to the Doctor who had a finger just over the button.

The three men reacted and hurried back, intending on stopping them.

"I think we had a miscommunication," Minerva remained at ease and glanced at the Doctor, "I think we did, didn't we?"

"It would appear so," he agreed with a nod.

"Salvage of a lifetime," Minerva stared the three men down, "You meant the ship. We meant our son. And Clara."

~ 0 ~

Clara had been walking down the corridor with Ally, holding Elias, when she heard a strange growling noise. Quickly, she hurried into the first room she found and locked the door.

Elias was seemingly satisfied by the room she'd chosen. Clara chuckled as he leaned towards an old wooden cottage, "What is it, El? Ooh," she noticed the cradle and walked for it, letting the baby run his hands through the moving mobile, "Was this yours?" she curiously asked.

Elias shook his head, making Clara debate whether it was perhaps Minerva's or the Doctor's. As far as she knew, there was no other baby in the TARDIS. But then again, she admitted she didn't actually know very much about the pair of aliens. They seldom talked about their pasts, their homes, their families.

' _It's my big sister's cradle, duh_ ,' Elias said but of course Clara never heard it.

Ally had walked over to a long table full of intricate objects. She picked up a toy TARDIS into her hands and stated at it, her eyes becoming visibly shiny.

When Clara turned around, Ally was near to tears, "Ally?" she called and startled the imaginary friend, "You okay?"

Ally quickly nodded, setting down the toy, - _Yeah, yeah_ \- Clara came over and set a hand on Ally's arm, - _I'm fine_ -

"Tayis!" Elias clapped his hands then reached down for the toy TARDIS.

Clara picked it up and handed it to him, "Who made it, Elias? Was it your Mommy?" she did know Minerva had a like for art and wondered if it branched out to crafts. Elias once again shook his head. He held the toy closer to him. "I just realized I don't know very much about this family," Clara mused and looked over the other objects on the table.

- _They're good, kind people_ \- Ally declared, making Clara smile.

"Yeah, but I meant, who are they? They never talk..." Clara trailed off, eyes flickering from one object to the next. It was a wild room full of so many things Clara was sure she would never finish discovering. She looked down at Elias and smiled seeing he was doing the same thing. She patted down his light, ginger hair that was beginning to sway to the side, much like the Doctor's.

"Ah! Ah!" Elias suddenly let the toy TARDIS drop, hitting one of Clara's feet. While Clara yelped at the small pain, Elias pushed himself towards the table, small hands flexing out for something that caught his attention.

- _He wants the magnifying glass_ \- Ally chuckled.

Clara picked up the magnifying glass and handed it to him. ' _Aunt Donna's!_ ' he cheered telepathically while he hugged the magnifying glass.

"You are one weird baby," Clara declared and picked up the toy TARDIS with her free hand.

What she missed when putting it back on the table was Elias frown. Ally chuckled and moved closer. Suddenly, she saw a shadowy figure not too far, its glowing red eyes alerting her it was time to go.

- _Clara!_ \- she shook the human and pointed to the figure.

"Time to go!" Clara blinked and dashed out of the room with the baby and Ally.

- _Where exactly are we going?_ \- Ally asked whilst passing several rooms that looked good to hide in.

"Somewhere away from that thing!" Clara replied and glanced over her shoulder to see just what was chasing them. It seemed ossified, charred, and it had one of its hands stuck to its face. Clara now wished she hadn't looked back.

They ended up running into an open room and went straight to hide behind a shelf. When they heard the creature passing, Clara rose to her feet. She made sure Elias was alright, but he seemed more interested in the magnifying glass he'd taken from the storage room.

- _I love this room_ \- she heard Ally from a distance.

Clara then looked ahead and saw a library, the biggest one she'd ever seen, "Now that's just showing off," she gaped at the various levels, pretty sure it consisted of billions of books.

Elias looked up from the glass with a grin, ' _It's my Mommy's favorite room!_ '

"Who are you?" was the only thing Clara could think of after seeing such a room. Who could read so much when all they did was travel to different parts of the universe?

~ 0 ~

Minerva, the Doctor and Tricky had all stopped their searching after realizing Gregor had disappeared somewhere along the way. They'd ran through the way they'd come in and found the missing brother into a very important TARDIS room.

"Get away from there!" Minerva angrily shouted when they'd found Gregor.

He stood underneath a crystal-like tree with hanging crystal spheres, ready to take one. He already had the laser device to cut it down.

"She won't let you touch it. I can feel a TARDIS tantrum coming on," the Doctor said with regret as he stroked one of the crystals. This was a complete waste of time! Elias and Clara were no where to be found and time was really precious.

"What the hell is this place?" Gregor looked back at the pair.

"Architectural Reconfiguration System. It reconstructs particles according to your needs."

"A machine that makes machines?"

"Yes. Basically," Minerva rolled her eyes, "But who cares, we need to go!"

Gregor ignored her in favor of the laser. Before he could anything more, Tricky ran over, "What are you doing?"

"No, no, don't! Don't! If you walk out of here with that circuit, the TARDIS will try to stop you!" the Doctor exclaimed, "Now listen to me. Look, the clock is ticking. We must find Elias and Clara!"

Gregor once again ignored them all and yanked down the crystal sphere from the tree. As soon as he did, the other crystals went pitch dark for a second before turning back on. A high-pitch whine rang throughout the room, forcing the group to cover their ears. Gregor hurriedly put the crystal into his backpack and made for the door...only to realize there was no more door.

"What the...?" Tricky frowned, "Where's the door gone?"

"Get ready for zero ground tantrum," Minerva crossed her arms.

"She won't relinquish it," the Doctor warned as the two brothers tried finding another way out, "Her basic genetic material."

Gregor refused it was it, "Torch it," he ordered and chucked a device at Tricky. He noticed Tricky was reluctant to follow through and reiterated, "I said torch it!"

"Can't you feel it, Gregor?" Tricky looked up, "The ship's in torment, like it's a living thing. You can't hurt it."

Gregor snatched back the device and headed for the wall. Just as he did the door reappeared and slides open, "What's the matter, TARDIS? Scared to fight me?"

"You are a bigger idiot than I thought if you think this is the end," Minerva declared and strode out of the room with the Doctor, both knowing the TARDIS had better ways to get back at them.

~ 0 ~

Clara remained inside the library. Since the creature had yet to find them she saw no need to leave so quick. With any luck, the Doctor or Minerva - or if they were _really_ luck, both - would find them there. She walked past book shelves and noticed a podium holding a closed book. Just as she reached out to open it, Ally appeared in front of her and blocked the way.

- _You shouldn't read things that don't belong to you_ -

Clara made a face, not catching the trouble it would bring if she did, "It's a book, Ally."

Elias had lost interest in the magnifying glass and quickly made a fuss as if he sensed something was beginning to go wrong. Clara heard a growling noise and moved to duck behind a bookshelf, motioning to Elias to stay quiet. Carefully, she crawled to another shelf as the creature made its way into the room. She rose up to peek through but accidentally knocked a bottle down, causing whispers to rise in the room. She and Ally tried fanning the whispers away, hoping to make it die down. It seemed the creature misplaced the noise as it ran right past them towards the end of the room. Taking her opportunity, Clara made a run out of the library.

~ 0 ~

The alien pair were growing more and more agitated as they came across a corridor intersection they were sure they'd passed twice already.

"It's the same," Tricky breathed in, also irritated, "It's just the same!"

"Because the TARDIS is diverting us," Minerva glared at Gregor due to it being his fault they were getting no where, "I swear to God if something happens to my baby because we couldn't get to him in time I will kill you," she felt awful for behaving the way she was but just knowing that Elias was unsafe and trapped in the toxic TARDIS made her heart hammer in her chest. Her instincts were telling her to do what ever it took to get Elias back, no matter who she had to hurt. She didn't know if it were mother-instincts or a dark side in her but she would use anything she had to get Elias back.

Gregor glared at the ginger and took a right on his own. The Doctor grabbed Minerva's had and went after the man, also fighting off his instincts to rip the TARDIS crystal from Gregor's hand so they would get a move on.

Once more, they returned to the same intersection.

"It's just the same, again," sighed Tricky.

"No point in building walls. You'll just know how to smash them down. It's found other ways of controlling you," the Doctor looked at Gregor, "Smart bunch, Time Lords. No dress sense, dreadful hats, but smart. If you want to get out of here, let that circuit go. It is creating a labyrinth."

Tricky spoke into his radio hoping to get his brother, "Bram? Bram? Can you hear me? Bram, the ship is alive. Get out of there. Bram, don't touch anything."

"Unbelievable," Minerva groaned and balled her fists.

"Bram? You've got to get out of there fast," Tricky awaited for a response that ultimately never came.

"I am not waiting anymore," Minerva turned to the Doctor, angrily, "Do something, please," the Doctor nodded and pulled out his sonic to scan the area up ahead. They had to be sure of where they were going, after all.

"Channel's dead," Tricky came to the realization, "We've got to help him. Gregor, do something. Do something!"

Gregor rolled his eyes, "It's too late, he's gone! Let's just worry about the salvage!"

Angrily, Tricky shoved Gregor back, "You care more about the circuit than you do about him!"

"THAT IS IT!" Minerva shouted and stalked back to the two men, pushing them apart, "If neither of you shut the hell up I swear to God I will freeze you both and leave you here!"

"Not the best punishment, Clever Girl," the Doctor slowly backtracked, still holding the screwdriver in front of him.

"I think so," Minerva scoffed and dropped her arms to her side.

"There is something else down there, meaning if you leave them here they die," the Doctor glanced back, seeing her confused expression, "Multiple life forms on board the TARDIS with us. I am getting a massive signal."

"Where are they?" the ginger whispered.

"Oh, you're not going to like the answer. About two steps away. One step…"

The group slowly turned around to see one of the ossified creature (though it seemed as if there were two fused together) coming for them. As it came closer, it reached out for them. In trying to escape, Gregor split up from the group.

The others made it back to the console - or so it seemed. Tricky looked around and sighed, "Back where we started," he complained again.

"No," the Doctor carefully scanned the room, finding the door was missing, "It's an echo," he and Minerva ran down to the console, "The console room is the safest place on the ship. It can replicate itself any number of times. It's trying to protect us."

"So that would mean she hopefully has Elias in another?" Minerva hopefully asked while the Doctor began working on the controls.

"Hopefully," the Doctor gave her a kiss on the lips, "so let's get to work."

Minerva hurriedly did alongside him. She accidentally knocked a piece off the console but there came no noise where it should've fallen to the floor.

"Where did...where did that go?" Tricky slowly asked as all three stared at the ground in confusion.

Minerva's eyes widened in delight, "There's more than one echo room!" she looked at the Doctor, "Elias!"

Surely enough, they saw a shadow moving through the room - Clara - who held a little bundle in her arms.

"The TARDIS has got Clara and Elias safe," the Doctor clapped his hands together, "That was them. That was her there."

"So why can't we see her?" Tricky asked.

"It's like a light switch. Two positions. Flickering at super-infinite speeds. We're only together for a brief second."

"SHH!" Minerva had a finger over her lips, motioning them both to be quiet, "I can hear my baby…" she swallowed hard as she began to move slowly, focusing in on the small bit of noise.

Suddenly, there was a scream that belonged to Clara...and a baby's wail that belonged to Elias.

"They're in trouble!" Minerva spun around for the Doctor, "The creature's inside with them! We have to get them out!"

~ 0 ~

Indeed, the creature Clara had run away from had made its way into her version of the console room. She held the crying Elias tightly in her arms and was using the console to block the creature.

- _Clara, we need to go!_ \- Ally appeared by the corridor's entrance, motioning the brunette to run.

"Kind of blocked here, Ally," Clara motioned to the console. She made a run around it but the creature mimicked the movement. Clara stopped and tilted her head, surprised to see the creature doing the same, "Who are you?" she frowned.

"Ah! Ah!" Elias said in the midst of his cries. He wanted to go away and Clara was speaking to the monster?

- _Clara, get away!_ \- Ally shouted again, more desperate as the creature got closer to Clara.

"I can't!" Clara whimpered as she was backtracked towards the wall where the door should've been.

Ally looked around the room for anything that could help, - _Clara, try!_ -

"I can't, Ally! I can't!" Clara shifted to give the creature her back and keep Elias between herself and the wall.

Ally looked around and saw some sort of console piece on the floor. Using all her focus on it, she managed to pick it up and quickly threw it as close to the creature as possible. Hearing the clang, the creature whipped around and gave Clara the perfect opportunity to get away.

Clara stared at Ally in utter confusion. "How did you…?"

- _LET'S GO!_ \- Ally shouted at the woman and motioned for Clara to start running. She appeared right beside Clara and took her by the arm, - _No time to waste, okay?_ -

Clara blinked, "But how did you…? You did...didn't you?"

However, Clara felt something different grab her other arm, making her scream. She had been yanked into the same echo room as Minerva, the Doctor, Tricky (and now Gregor) were in.

"Clara, it's okay!" Minerva tried stopping the screaming brunette, "Clara!"

Clara slowly stopped as she realized it was a different room with no creature, "Ooh…"

"Now give me!" Minerva practically ripped Elias from Clara's arms to hold him herself, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" she dropped kisses all over Elias who was slowly stopping his cries.

The Doctor promptly took Elias from her to shower him with more kisses, "You always seem to find trouble don't you, El? Don't know where you got that from..."

Elias giggled and covered his eyes.

Clara would've been grateful if she wasn't overly concerned with what had happened mere seconds ago with Ally. She looked at her blonde imaginary friend and frowned, her eyes boring into Ally's trying to find the truth.

- _You're okay, Clara. That's the important thing_ \- Ally tried to smile but even she seemed scared.

"Clara, are you okay?" Minerva finally noticed the way Clara was staring off to the side.

"There's zombie creatures here…" Clara swallowed hard, still debating whether or not to share Ally's recent action, "...why are they here?" she then noticed the three brothers standing behind the alien pair.

"Who are they?" she pointed at them.

"Frenemies," Minerva said as she took Elias from the Doctor.

"All right, all right - a deal's a deal," Gregor cut into the conversation, "You got the girl and baby back. Now cancel the self-destruct."

The Doctor smirked at Minerva, "Guess we should tell them now, huh, love?"

Minerva smirked right back, "Ah, if it were up to me I'd let them suffer for an hour more," she held Elias closer to her, "My baby should've been with me far earlier."

The Doctor chuckled and turned to the three brothers, "There is no self-destruct," he announced to them, " I just wiggled a few buttons. The old wiggly-button trick. And the face. You've got to do the face. ;Save them or we all die.' I thought I rushed it a bit, but…

Tricky raised an eyebrow, "So you're telling us we're safe?"

"Apart from the monsters and the TARDIS reinventing the architecture every five minutes," Minerva turned to them, "Though you may still fear me if you cross me again."

"Guys, don't worry, the countdown's a fake. Look, just give me just a second," the Doctor turned for the console, "I'll turn it off. I only made it look as though the engine was actually exploding," promptly, an alarm turned off, "Ah," he read off the monitor, "That's not good. OK, don't panic, or maybe panic."

Minerva frowned, "What did you do, Martian?"

"It appears the engine is damaged. We're in trouble. Proper trouble. It needs fixing or we're toast," he dashed to the lower level underneath the console.

"So now would be a good time to use that big friendly button, right?" Clara asked the pair as they followed the Doctor down.

"Clara, red buttons are for cartoons," Minerva gave her a look, "You okay?" she asked after a minute of taking in Clara's nervous appearance.

Clara slowly looked around to see if Ally was nearby and thankfully it seemed like she wasn't, "Something happened…" she whispered, "...with Ally…"

"What?"

"Minerva! Clara!" the Doctor shouted for the two missing women.

Minerva took Clara by the arm and dragged Clara away, "We'll talk later."

"But I really think it should be now," Clara insisted, growing more afraid the more she thought about Ally's actions.

"Why do you say that?" Minerva now suspiciously looked at the brunette.

"Remember how I said one time I thought Ally opened a door on her own? Well, now I don't think I imagined it. She picked up a console part…" Clara scratched her head, still trying to wrap her mind around what she saw, "...and she...she saved Elias and I by throwing it and distracting the creature."

Minerva looked down at Elias for some confirmation, ' _Arlo, is what she saying true?_ ' she gave the baby a stern look.

' _...yes,_ ' Elias slowly responded, ' _But Ally's not a bad person, Mommy. She was trying to help. And she did! She saved Clara and I. Don't be mad at her, please?_ '

Minerva sucked in a breath and walked faster, "Clara, I promise we'll discuss this afterwards. But we need to survive first."

They caught up with the men and were unsurprised to find the creatures gaining on them once more. While trying to run, Clara was separated from them and so made Minerva and the Doctor have to return for her. In doing so, they found a monster of their own to run from. As they hid from the monster, Clara continued seeing past versionS of themselves roaming the corridors. She didn't quite understand what the Doctor meant by the TARDIS 'leaking' things from the past. She really just wanted to get home.

When the group was able to come out from hiding, they started for the missing brothers they'd lost earlier. However, after two steps forwards, a groaning from the ceiling stopped them.

"What's that noise?" Clara whispered and looked up like the rest.

"We're right under the primary fuel cells," the Doctor said, making Minerva close her eyes with a small sigh.

"So?" Clara looked at them, "So? So what?"

"So... so the fuel has spilled out. So the rods will be exposed. Means they'll cool…"

"And start to warp," Clara understood and looked ahead, fearing what would happen in the next couple of minutes.

"And start to warp. Maybe even…"

"No. You don't say it. Don't you dare say it."

"And maybe just break apart," Minerva hung her head, "Can't we ever catch a break here?"

Her answer came when a large rod shot down right in front of them, making them all stumble back.

"Um, so...run?" Clara asked.

"Martian?" Minerva looked at him.

' _Run_!' Elias was the one to agree, though telepathically.

"El's right, run!" the Doctor turned around and ran with them.

They ran down the other corridor, having to actively avoid any rods shooting down from the ceiling. Luckily enough, they ran back into the two remaining brothers - though in no good conditions.

Tricky had been impaled by one of the rods through the shoulder. Gregor was trying to get him free, but struggled.

"Cut it off. Just cut my arm off," Tricky was also insisting.

"No!"

"It's the quickest way to release me. No fear, no hate, no pain. I can get a new one. Disposable parts, just do it. It won't hurt me."

Gregor stepped back, refusing so, "Tricky, you don't understand."

"I'm an android. Cut me!"

"What did I say about this bickering?" Minerva sighed and handed Elias to the Doctor.

"What's the matter with you? Why won't you cut me?" Tricky demanded from his brother, frustrated he was letting the pain continue when there was a clear solution.

"Waste of time, just tell him!" the ginger ordered Gregor as she walked over.

"Tell me what?" Tricky looked at Gregor, confused.

"You're such a coward," Minerva accused Gregor, "You won't save him, but you're scared to tell him why."

"What's she going on about?"

"Robots don't need blast suits," the Doctor called as he came to join them, "They don't need respirators. They don't get frightened of monsters in the dark."

"What's he talking about?"

The Doctor shifted Elias to one side and grabbed his screwdriver, using it to shine it into Tricky's eyes, "Two bionic eyes and a synthetic voice box. But you, my friend, are human. Flesh and blood."

At Tricky's look, Gregor admitted, "It was a joke. It was just a stupid joke. We did it to relieve the boredom."

"Are you still laughing, then? Cos I'm not," Minerva shook her head and spoke to Tricky, "They lied to you. Changed your identity. Just to provide some in-flight entertainment!"

"I'm sorry. You're human, Tricky," Gregor sighed.

"Step aside," Minerva ushered Gregor and the Doctor away so she could get a better angle of the rod, "Now this may feel cold for a minute," she warned.

"What are you gonna do?" Tricky looked at her suspiciously.

"Free you, duh," Minerva put both her hands on the rod, freezing it completely and destroying it within seconds. Tricky's arm still had to be bandaged up from the injury. Now together, they headed for a new location, hoping to get eventually to the engine room.

The Doctor peered through a door's window, seeing the blazing hot room on the other side.

"Where are we?" Clara inquired while Minerva took a look for herself at the room through the window.

"It's the power source," the Doctor gently pulled Minerva away from the door, "Right, you lot, wait here. I'll check it's safe. We can only survive for a minute or two in there...some of us less than two," he directly looked at Minerva who understood the implication.

"Go, I'll be quick afterwards," she urged him to get a move on, "And we'll get Elias too."

As the Doctor went inside, Clara took her opportunity to ask Minerva, "What was that? And what would happen if we stay longer?"

"Our cells will liquefy and our skin will start to burn," Minerva helped close the door of the room.

"And why'd he say you couldn't survive for two?"

Minerva sighed and turned away, leaning on the door and holding Elias tighter, "Because, Clara, my species aren't meant to withstand that much heat. Originally, my species couldn't leave our planet because it was the only place where the cold was enough to sustain us."

"So how'd you get out?" Clara now eyed Minerva differently.

"I acquired some human characteristics from my ginger sister through a unique sort of transfer."

"You have a sister?"

Minerva sighed again, "Not exactly, that's what I call Donna."

"Donna who now?"

Minerva face palmed her head, though she didn't blame Clara for asking more questions. She and the Doctor hadn't really told her anything about themselves. They couldn't go blabbing about themselves without knowing what Clara was.

"A previous companion, Clara. I took in the human quality that makes me resist a more heat than I'm used to. Still, even that heat in there," Minerva nodded to the room behind, "is a lot more than I was trained for. I don't want to risk Elias in there either; he might have only half of my genes but it's enough to cause trouble."

Clara rubbed her neck, "That's a lot of stuff I didn't know about. Though I guess that's not the kind of stuff you talk about firsthand."

"Is Ally nearby?" Minerva suddenly inquired, making Clara stiffen as she looked around herself.

"No...why?"

"Just thinking," Minerva shrugged, "You said Ally picked up a console part? Like physically?" Clara nodded her head. "Has she done anything like that before?"

"No. Just that door in the submarine..." Clara sighed. "She's my imaginary friend, but...she can't actually do those sorts of things..."

"When did you imagine her exactly? What year?"

"I was like six or seven," Clara shrugged, "It was when I lost my Mum for a moment...Ally found me."

"Okay," Minerva hated to admit it but that did sound like a logical event of imagination. But it still didn't make sense how Elias could see her and Ally having super powers.

"Hey, get that away from me," she heard Clara tell and looked up to see Gregor holding his scanner to the brunette.

"It's a scanner," Gregor clarified just as the device announced 'Lancashire. Sass.'

"Ever pointed that thing at yourself, Gregor?" Tricky called from his spot, slightly to the side of the group, "What would it see? What sort of person does this to another human? Made them believe they're made of metal!" he went up to Gregor and turned him around, "Who am I?"

Gregor ripped off the patch from his sleeve and held it for Tricky. He took it from Gregor and looked at it.

"My mouthy little kid brother," Gregor said after a minute.

"Why...why can't I remember?" Tricky turned around with a frown.

"Salvage accident. There was a big explosion. You lost your sight, voice and your memory."

Tricky blinked, "And you... you thought of a way you could have some fun with me? I just wanted a brother beside me."

"You were always the smart one, Tricky. He wanted you to take over. He made you captain."

"He?"

"Dad."

Tricky shook his head, "I don't...remember him. You did this to me, just to be captain of a heap of junk," Tricky charged for Gregor but the Doctor had arrived to hold them apart.

"Tricky, listen to me," he looked at Tricky, "Ask yourself why he couldn't cut you up. He has just one tiny scrap of decency left in him. You just helped him find that, OK? Now you. Don't ever forget this."

He returned for the doors and motioned for them to get into the room, "Okay, move, move, move!"

Minerva slowly came towards the door last and held Elias to him, "I think it's best if he's with someone who can resist more heat than me."

"You'll be fine, I promise," the Doctor took Elias and gently kissed her.

' _Mommy, do this!_ ' Elias clapped one of his small hands over his mouth, ' _So you don't breathe in the bad stuff!_ '

With a smile, Minerva put a hand over her mouth, "Let's get this over with," she said, her words muffled behind her hand.

The two entered the room on a catwalk. Minerva instantly felt the heat pricking her skin and she was thankful for Donna's human genes making a great barrier. If this had been her original body she would've been fried already.

"The Eye of Harmony. Exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole. Time Lord engineering - you rip the star from its orbit, suspend it in a permanent state of decay," the Doctor explained as he headed for the door at the end of the catwalk, "This way. Quickly."

Just as they arrived and opened the door, a creature popped in front. The Doctor slammed the door with one hand and turned to give Elias back to Minerva so he could help Gregor keep the door shut.

"We need to go back," Minerva ran for the other door only to see another creature already there.

"There's no way out. We're trapped," Gregor said in horror.

Minerva leaned back on the rails, wanting to keep still to avoid unnecessarily wasting energy that would cost her.

"Okay, one of you needs to tell me what those things are," Clara told the alien pair firmly, "If we're going to die then this is my last wish."

"We can't," the Doctor moved over to Minerva.

"Tell me! What's the use in secrets now?"

"Oh, that is rich," Minerva made the remark and sounded slightly snide about it.

"What?" Clara frowned.

Gregor had begun using his scanner on one of the creatures. When the Doctor saw, he called, "No!" and ran for the man, but it was too late.

 _'Sensor detects animal DNA, human core element. Calculating data. Calculating data. Lancashire. Sass. Identifiable substance. Clara,_ ' went the scanner.

Clara froze on her spot and looked at the creature that had been scanned, "That's... _me_ …?" she pointed at herself.

At that moment, Ally appeared beside her, holding her hand, - _No, time can be rewritten_ -

Clara looked at her imaginary friend with teary eyes, forgetting all that she told Minerva and gripping Ally's hand, "I burn in here?"

Minerva leaned off the rail and turned to Clara, "We're sorry, Clara. But the TARDIS isn't just leaking the past, it's also the future. We brought you here to keep you safe, but it happened again. You died again."

Clara looked back at the ginger, "What do you mean, _again_?"

The Doctor ran a hand over his face and saw a creature behind the door doing the exact same thing. He quickly dropped his hand and looked again, now seeing the fused creatures along with Gregor and Tricky standing side by side. Seconds later, a fourth creature appeared by Clara's - that of Minerva's.

"Hang on. As long as we interrupt the timeline, this can't happen," the Doctor resolved and rushed across to pull the brothers apart, "Don't touch each other, otherwise the future will reassert itself.

The creature on their side broke through the door and backtracked them towards the center. One of them grabbed Gregor's pack.

"Gregor! Gregor, let go of the circuit!" Minerva called, her voice beginning to sound frail. The heat was beginning to break through her human heat resistance.

"Just let it go!" Tricky tried yanking Gregor with him but the pack was making it difficult.

Gregor finally listened and slipped from the pack. Tricky then took a swing at the creature, knocking it over the rail. The Doctor led the way for the other door, taking Minerva by the hand, but the creatures on that door broke in as well.

They were being cornered to the center of the rails.

"I don't feel so well," Minerva mumbled and held onto Elias tighter. The beats of sweat were finding their way through her forehead.

' _Mommy_ …' Elias was staring at his mother, fearful of what would happen to them if they didn't get out. He was feeling a bit hot too, but he could take it.

Tricky acquired a crowbar and used it to kick one of the creatures off the rail. In doing so, he himself nearly fell over. Gregor rushed over to help him, "Tricky!"

"Don't touch him, or time will reassert itself!" the Doctor frantically shouted but it was too late. When Tricky was back on his feet, he fused with Gregor, thus creating the fused creature.

"Doctor!" Minerva exclaimed, her face drained of its color.

"And we're out!" the Doctor forgot about the dead brothers and hurried his wife out of the room. He sonicked the door to keep it locked then turned for Minerva, cupping her face, "Hey, hey, you're okay now? Yeah?"

Minerva slowly nodded, "Yeah, but I'm really thirsty now."

"Let's go, then, and we'll get you that glass," the Doctor took her hand and motioned to Clara to follow.

~ 0 ~

Thinking they would enter the TARDIS engine room, the trio went into the room carelessly and nearly fell over a cliff ledge. It appeared they were somewhere on the outside, a mountain landscape.

"We're outside?" Clara frowned, doubting it'd been that easy to escape.

"No, we're still in the TARDIS," the Doctor said slowly.

"There's no way across."

"No. OK, you're right."

"So what do we do? Time for a plan. Do you have a plan?"

The Doctor shared a look with Minerva, both deciding to try their luck.

"There is no plan, Clara," Minerva announced seconds later, "Sorry."

Clara panicked at the idea, "If you don't have a plan, we're dead!"

"Quite," Minerva agreed, "So just tell us who you are already."

Clara made a face, seemingly in the dark, "Tell you what?"

"Well, there's no point now, we're about to die, so just tell us who you are," the Doctor shrugged.

"You know who I am," Clara said slowly, eyeing the pair confusedly.

"Yeah, a 26 year old with a suspicious imaginary friend? We hardly know you, Clara," Minerva gave her a sharp look. "Why do you think we don't tell you anything about ourselves? Because we can't fully trust you until we understand what you are."

"What..." Clara lost her courage at the sight of both suspicious aliens just staring her down like she was some sort of criminal.

"We look at you every single day, and we don't understand a thing about you," the Doctor frowned, "Why do we keep running into you?"

Clara was at a loss for words, "Doctor, Minerva, you invited me - you said…"

"Before that," Minerva corrected and the Doctor continued.

"We met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck, and she died saving our lives. And she was _you_."

Clara was feeling scared and not even the appearance of Ally could help, "She really wasn't."

"Victorian London," the Doctor sais next, his voice growing hard, "There was a governess who was a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together, she died, and it was our fault - and she was you."

"You're scaring me!" Clara stepped back, unknowingly closing in on the ledge.

- _It's okay, Clara, we'll be fine_ \- Ally had a hand in front of Clara. Unlike Clara, Ally was paying close attention to what Minerva and the Doctor were saying.

"And both women had imaginary friends," Minerva spat.

\- _Now what are you talking about, Minerva?_ \- Ally moved closer, like Minerva could see her.

"Citlally and Holly," Minerva looked at the Doctor, both agreeing, "Victorian Clara mentioned Holly right near her end and we thought she was just scared of dying so she was rambling...but she wasn't. There was someone there with her that we never saw. Oswin mentioned Citlally...but she was also gone just as Oswin was dying."

"What are you, eh? Are you a trick, a trap?" the Doctor demanded from Clara.

Clara stuttered and stepped back once more, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Do you really?" Minerva asked.

"Yes!" Clara exclaimed and moved back again, nearly falling over the ledge.

The Doctor managed to grab her before she fell and instantly felt her terror via her trembling, "You...you really don't know, do you?" he looked down at the brunette.

"I think I'm more scared of you two right now than anything else on that TARDIS," Clara swallowed hard and moved away from him.

"You're just Clara, aren't you?" Minerva studied the brunette thoroughly, concluding the woman was far too terrified to be a brilliant mastermind.

- _What did she mean by all that?_ \- Ally was studying Minerva as well, looking more confused than scared.

"Kind of, yeah," Clara slowly nodded, rubbing her arm, "Is this why your kid doesn't like me?"

Elias covered his eyes as a response.

The Doctor clapped his hands together and smiled, "We're not going to die here. This isn't real! It's a _snarl_ ," he kicked a rock over the ledge.

"What?"

"What does a wounded animal do? It tries to scare everyone away. We're close to the engine. The TARDIS is snarling at us, trying to frighten us off. We need to jump."

' _Jump_!' Elias clapped his own small hands together, ' _Let's go! Let's go!'_

Minerva shook her head, "You would be excited, El."

"That's my boy!" the Doctor happily took his son and faced the ledge.

"You're both insane, then," accused Clara.

"We'll cross a portal to the engine," the Doctor shrugged and took Minerva's hand.

"How can you be so sure?" Clara looked at Minerva for some opinion.

"It's not exactly sure," Minerva admitted, "but its the only chance we have."

"Hey, now, Clara, I've piloted this ship for over 900 years. Trust me this one time, please," the Doctor reminded but then realized his mistake, "OK. OK. As well as all the other times. Ready? Geronimo."

With nothing else to say, the group ran off and jumped off the edge. They came into a white room with machinery pieces suspended in midair. There was an eerie silence that filled the room, as if preparing them for the worst.

"The heart of the TARDIS. The engine - it's already exploded," the Doctor's hearts sank at the sight, "It must have been the collision with the salvage ship."

"We're not dead," Clara tried to point out.

"She wrapped her hands around the force. Froze it," Minerva looked around, just as heartbroken as the Doctor.

Elias was pouting, "Tayis," he sadly covered his eyes.

"So... so it's safe?" Clara nervously asked.

"Temporary fix. Eventually, this whole place will erupt. There's no way I can save her now," the Doctor whispered, "She's just always been there for me, taken care of me. And now it's my turn and I don't know what to do. It... it just…"

Minerva gripped his hand, "There must be something…"

- _Clara_ \- Ally appeared beside Clara and looked down at the human's hands, - _look at your hand, the burnt one_ -

Clara did so and saw something written across her burnt palm. The burn marks had been turned into actual letter. "Oh...oh that could be useful," she realized and looked at the pair ahead. She rushed over and moved in front of them, "Guys, look!" she waved her hand at them and immediately the Doctor snatched it for a look, yanking her forwards.

"Ooh, Clara. Oh. You are beautiful!" he cheered and showed Minerva their salvation.

"Never in my life have I been so happy for fragile human skin," Minerva breathed in delight.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic, " The rift in time. All the memories leaking out. I need to find the moment we crashed. I need to find... the music," with the sonic he was able to locate the origin of their original crashing moment.

They ran all the way there, intending on saving them selves once more. They re-entered the console room where a large crack was running down a wall.

"The time rift," the Doctor slowly walked over it, Elias now with his mother instead, "Recent past. Possible future."

"What are you going to do?" Clara asked nervously as the Doctor held a remote for the device that had burned Clara's palm.

"Rewrite today," he cheerfully said, currently using the sonic to write the words, "I hope. I've thrown this through the rift before. I need to make sure this time. Going to take it in there myself. There might be a certain amount of yelling."

"Maybe I should do it," Minerva offered herself.

"Over my dead body," the Doctor scoffed and headed for the rift, "You stay here with Elias and Clara." Minerva sighed but didn't insist. She held Elias closer to her, the baby already waving bye to his father.

"Hold on," Clara looked between the pair, "what you said about me...how we've met before. How I died…"

"Clara, there's no need to worry," Minerva shook her head, "You won't remember anything. Time mends us. It can mend anything."

Clara frowned, "I don't want to forget. Not all of it. Ally," she looked around again, finding her blonde imaginary friend standing across them, "I know what I saw, and I know what you did...I don't want to forget that."

- _I love you, Clara, but it's a story that will only cause suffering_ \- Ally sadly smiled, - _My story ended a long time ago_ -

Clara tilted her head, making a face that expressed her confusion, "I don't...what does...that mean?"

Minerva looked at the empty spot where she assumed Ally was and frowned herself, "Clara, just because you don't remember doesn't mean we'll forget. We will work to discover what is really going on."

"Stay put," the Doctor ordered with a smile before stepping into the rift. The moment he did he felt the energy coursing through this body in painful amounts.

"Clara," Minerva spoke quietly, "is Ally still around?"

"Yeah," Clara was still staring at her imaginary friend.

"Good," Minerva faced the direction Clara was in, hoping Ally was listening, "Then hear me now, Ally. We will find out who and what you are," she promised.

- _And I sincerely hope you never do_ \- Ally responded calmly.

That was the last thing said in the room before everything went white and time was successfully rewritten.

~ 0 ~

After Clara had been returned home, the woman having expressed how exhausted she was, the alien trio got ready for some needed sleep. Although, Minerva did have a stop by her painting room...for a good hour or so.

"Minerva," the Doctor knocked and opened the door, "I thought you were going to sleep?"

Minerva looked up from her canvas with a startled face, "Whoops, I got a little bit into my work tonight. Sorry."

"I assumed so," the Doctor smiled and came into the room, "Elias is fast asleep now, poor kid had went through a lot. Though I guess he now has a little more respect for Clara since she did keep him safe for us."

"Yes, we'll have to thank her for that," Minerva said honestly. "But...did he say anything about Ally?"

"He says Ally isn't a bad person and that we shouldn't think of her as a threat."

"I can't believe it," Minerva put down all her painting utensils and took off her apron, "What is she? I mean...Elias is a baby but...he knows what's bad and what's not bad..."

"Makes one think that maybe Ally herself isn't bad," the Doctor smiled lightly.

"It would just be easier if Elias told us already who Ally was," Minerva huffed.

"He's much like us in a way; he keeps his promises."

"Against his own mother!? He's keeping something important from me."

The Doctor chuckled and moved over to her, taking her by the waist, "May I remind you who kept a big secret from her entire family?" Minerva immediately frowned and stayed quiet, "You kept a secret from your parents, Clever Girl."

"Because they would try to separate us," Minerva said fast, the mere thought sending her into a panicking state, "I know you weren't a bad person."

Minerva's words got the Doctor thinking, "Maybe we've been going about this all wrong…"

"What do you mean?" Minerva saw he was in one of his thinking moments and became curious.

"Maybe Elias is only trying to do what you and I did in the past…" the Doctor began to smile, "Maybe Ally isn't a bad person, and maybe Elias just wants us all to stay together."

"You think...you think Elias is trying to protect Ally?" Minerva frowned at the idea, "Why?"

"Because he's scared, maybe? All he's heard from us is how we want to stop Ally and find out who she is…"

"He doesn't want us to hurt her," Minerva then realized, running a hand through her hair, "Oh my God. I think we should start the search again..."

" _Or._.." the Doctor held her a bit tighter in his arms, "...we can get some _sleep_. You know, that thing Moontsays need a bit more than Time Lords?"

"Are you trying to coax me into sleeping by pointing out my inferiority to you?" Minerva tilted her head upwards to meet the Doctor's gaze.

"You know I think you're the absolute Queen of the universe," the Doctor responded rather calmly and pressed a kiss on her neck. "You should have ruled my planet, actually. I'm sure you would have made it a better place."

"Smooth, Martian," Minerva smirked. "Alright, I'll get some sleep under one condition."

"And that would be?"

"You have to be right next to me when I wake up."

"A promise I can most definitely keep," the Doctor chuckled and kissed her cheek before leading her out of the room.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

I always liked this episode for some reason lol. It finally gave us an insight of the TARDIS in new who. Since there are no comments to respond to, I'll just end it here! Next chapter we get some familiar faces again, and not the ones you think ;)


	13. To the Rescue

"Elias, stop it!" Minerva huffed while Elias laughed and fiddled with his small hat that was meant to be over his head, "Put that thing on your head or I'll take it away altogether!"

"Times like these I'm glad I only have to account for myself," Clara strode into the console room in her 19th century period dark green gown.

Minerva looked up from the baby with a mocking glare, "Not funny! Ah, whose grand idea was it to visit London in the 19th century anyways?"

"Yours and the Doctor's," Clara reminded with a light chuckle.

"And a grand idea it was!" the Doctor came up from the lower level of the console, also mildly changed for the 19th century. It was his same usual attire but the purple coat had been exchanged for a dark brown, plaid coat - and the bowler hat.

"Then you get him to put on the hat!" Minerva gave up and rose from her feet, leaving Elias in care of the Doctor.

Elias giggled as he dropped his hat over his legs, watching his mother leave in a huff, "Bye!"

Clara snickered and received a glare from Minerva, "Your sarcasm, your baby," she raised her hands.

"Strappin fellow, you are, Elias," the Doctor bent down in front of the baby, "Now why don't you put on your hat to complete the outfit, eh?"

Elias tilted his head, seemingly considering such action. He looked down at his current clothing, finding it too different from what he usually worn. He had a buttoned up shirt with suspenders on; he didn't very much care for his black shoes but he loved the hat! He could throw it!

The Doctor leaned closer to him, whispering, "It would make Mummy really happy. Do you want Mummy to be sad?"

Still buying into those types of blackmails, Elias grabbed his hat from his lap and put it over his head, though it threatened to fall off, "Ta-da!" he waved his hands high up.

"That's my boy," the Doctor scooped him up from the floor and fixed his hat, "There we go, then."

Minerva walked over with a big smile, "Handsome you are," she pinched Elias' cheek, getting him to giggle.

"Ahem," the Doctor innocently looked around.

"No!" Elias shook his head and put a hand on the Doctor's cheek and the other over his mouth, "No!"

Minerva chuckled and took Elias into her arms, "I think you _both_ look handsome," she gave Elias a kiss on his cheek and the Doctor's lips, "Happy? Content?" she looked between the two with a smirk, meanwhile Clara rolled her eyes behind them.

"You look beautiful, by the way," the Doctor complimented her on her baby-blue dress. Its bodice was in a buttoned-up style, going with a high neckline and long sleeves, while the skirt was in an a-line style. Her ginger hair was left down as usual.

"Thank you," Minerva smiled and kissed him a second time, promptly hearing a 'yuck' from Elias in her arms.

"Yeah, I agree with Elias," Clara cleared her throat and walked for the doors, "Absolute 'yuck'!"

Minerva rolled her eyes and brought the Doctor along with them. As soon as they stepped out, the Doctor realized he'd once again gotten the wrong time.

"Okay, so this isn't London 1893," he winced, "Yorkshire 1893. Near enough."

Clara shook her head, no longer surprised by the mistake, "You're making a habit of this. Getting us lost."

- _Are you surprised by that?_ \- Ally was right beside her, her arms crossed and amusedly watching.

"Nah," Clara shrugged and turned to continue walking.

"Nah what?" Minerva called for the brunette, waiting for the Doctor to lock the TARDIS for them.

"Nothing, I was talking to Ally," Clara waved them off and missed the concerned looks from the pair.

Ever since the TARDIS' accident Minerva and the Doctor had looked into Clara's 'imaginary friend' but there was nothing to report. They followed Clara's timeline from the moment she was born to the present yet there was nothing that would show Ally wasn't an imaginary friend. Of course, there was the period in which Clara had forgone the imaginary friend, starting around the age of eleven all the way to her 15th year, when her mother had died. During those years, Clara had gained actual friends and acted as any other pre-teen would. However, once her mother died, right around the day she was buried, Clara started to see Ally again. But other than that, there was nothing. They'd even collected some of Clara's old drawings of Ally as a child, hoping to try to find something suspicious. Currently, there was nothing.

A woman's screams broke through the pair's thoughts. Without thinking, they and Clara ran off to go see what the trouble was. They made it towards the a side of a canal where a group of people were already lined up seeing something below - that of a corpse floating in the water.

"It's another one, don't you see?" a man, named Edmund, was talking to the group, "Another victim! Why won't anyone of you listen?"

"We'll listen," the Doctor decided to call out, making the group along with Edmund look back.

Taking his opportunity to finally have someone listen, Edmund lead the group and promptly began to explain the situation.

~ 0 ~

The group were in front of the gates of Sweetville, the place of all talks lately, apparently. Edmund stood beside them and explained, "Mrs Winifred Gillyflower. An astonishing woman. A prize-winning chemist and mechanical engineer. So why…"

"Why has she decided to open up a match factory in her old home town?" Minerva looked away from the courtyard.

"And no-one who ever goes to live there ever seems to come out," Edmund sighed.

"Except…?"

"There's these corpses we keep finding in the canal - you saw it today. But they're no ordinary corpses, you see...they're something else."

"What do you mean by 'something else'?" the Doctor inquired, receiving the answer as a motion to follow once more.

Edmund had brought them to the morgue where they saw just what the corpses were. The corpse was covered in a red, poisonous substance - branded as the Crimson Horror. After a couple of hours discussing it, a plan to infiltrate Sweetville was devised. Though Clara wasn't pleased to hear she had been tasked with looking after Elias with Edmund.

"You cannot leave me here with these people," Clara hissed at the pair as she followed them down the corridor leading to the door, "and the baby - again!" she held an equally irritated Elias in her arms.

"Clara, do you really think we would lead our son into this threatening utopia?" Minerva turned around, "I've been to Utopia before and do you know what happened?"

"No…"

"I was tortured for a full year," Minerva crossed her arms, "And the Doctor was under no better circumstances."

"But why can't I come?" Clara felt like a whining child but she was pretty much done babysitting a baby that didn't like her.

"You'll be with us in spirit," the Doctor patted her arm cheerfully, "Plus, see that?" he raised Elias' wrist that bore one of the sacred Moontsay bracelet, "It's got an upgrade now. It's serves as a communicator between Minerva and myself. You will be able to hear everything, promise."

"There's no other words in this, is there?"

"Not at all," Minerva leaned over and planted a kiss on Elias' forehead, "You be good okay?"

"Yes...no," Elias shook his head, giggling at the groan Clara gave. Ever since he began acquiring words for his vocabulary he'd been using them to poke fun at Clara. Apparently, it was the funniest thing ever.

The Doctor tickled his stomach, "Elias, be good just this one time?"

Clara was no where amused by this and glared at the pair, "He is a demon in disguise!"

Elias took off his hat and threw it to the floor. He pointed at it for her to pick up.

"Babysitting is my day job, this is supposed to be my fun time," Clara pointed at the alien pair who were laughing, "It's not funny!"

"You're right, it's not, but we have to go," Minerva waved and pulled the Doctor out of the house.

~ 0 ~

In no time, Minerva and the Doctor had gained entrance to Sweetville, acting as what they were...a married couple.

The leader of it all, Mrs. Gillyflower, had them inside her office and was delighted to 'accept them' into her program, "Doctor and Mrs. Smith. Oh, yes. You'll do very nicely."

' _You just couldn't use my name could you?_ ' Minerva asked the Doctor through their minds.

' _It's probably the only time I will get to hear 'Mrs. Smith' so let me have it_ ,' the Doctor promptly replied back. Minerva rolled her eyes.

"Will you please follow?" Gillyflower motioned them towards the door, and with big sappy smiles the pair followed.

~ 0 ~

"Sweetville will provide you with everything you need," Gillyflower assured the pair while leading them down a row of houses, "You won't have to worry about a thing... ever again."

"Now the name, Sweetville," Minerva began, putting on a Northern accent for show.

"Yes?" Gillyflower stopped and looked back.

"Why not name it after yourself? After all, it's your creation."

"Gillyflowertown, eh? Gillyflowerland! You could have roller-coasters," the Doctor added with a cheerful laugh.

"It is named in tribute to my partner," Gillyflower explained.

"Your late partner?" assumed Minerva, discreetly glancing at the Doctor.

"No," Gillyflower kept moving until they stopped at one precise house, " My... silent partner. Mr. Sweet likes to keep himself to himself. Shall we move on?"

"Who lives here?" the Doctor looked at the house, taking in its eery silence.

"Oh," Gillyflower had a small laugh, "Names don't matter here. All you need to know is that we only recruit the brightest and the best."

Minerva didn't take well the patting on her cheek, "Good to know," the ginger made a fake smile.

Gillyflower opened the door for the pair to see inside. Once they did, they knew the plan had gone wrong. Inside the house was a tableau of what looked like a husband and wife, both sitting motionless doing an afternoon tea. It was all covered in a giant, glass, bell jar.

The nearing footsteps made them turn around made the alien pair turn around and the woman coming from the inside the house made them look back.

"It's gone wrong…" Minerva breathed, gripping the Doctor's hand who promptly tightened back.

" _Very_ ," he winced.

All the way TO Edmund's home, Clara listened in on the transmission Elias' bracelet was broadcasting. She jumped up from her chair, panicking and scared, "It's gone wrong! It's gone very wrong!"

"Tayis! Tayis! Tayis!" Elias began as soon as the transmission broke off, "Tayis! Tayis!"

Clara knew he was right. With his parents gone, once again the TARDIS fell to Elias. Clara ran for the doors, easily getting out since there had been no one in the house for a good hour or so. She didn't remember exactly where the TARDIS had been placed but Elias seemed to know his way. She eventually came across the canal again, and minutes later the TARDIS.

"Okay, then," she came up to the TARDIS, trying the door but of course it had been locked. She shifted Elias and looked at him, "Get it to open the TARDIS," she told him.

"Tayis!" he did the only thing he could, "Tayis!" he leaned towards it, pounding his small hands on the wooden door, "Tayis!" he began to sniffle the longer it stayed locked.

Suddenly, the doors opened up.

- _What's happened?_ \- Ally asked from inside.

"Oh, same old, same old, the Doctor and Minerva have gotten themselves into trouble and I'm left babysitting their kid," Clara was going around the console trying to figure out what to do next.

- _What kind of trouble?_ \- Ally blinked, horrified of the news.

"I don't know, some old lady that's got that Sweetville town by the canal," Clara looked at Ally, "She's got them and I don't know what to do. It's 1893, I doubt people are going to listen to me if I tell them people are kidnapped."

"No! No!" Elias loudly exclaimed and shook his head, "No! No! Tayis!"

Clara and Ally looked at the baby, "What is it, El?" Clara asked.

"Tayis!" he leaned forwards, wanting to get Clara to walk, "Tayis!"

- _I think he wants you to walk_ \- Ally advised and so Clara took a couple steps forwards until she realized Ally was right.

"No!" Elias exclaimed once she'd passed the place he wanted to be at.

Clara retracted two steps back and turned for the console, only seeing the phone, "You...want me to call someone?"

He nodded then patted his Moontsay bracelet.

"You parents?" Clara guessed since the bracelet was a gift from his parents. "I'm sorry, El, but we can't call them. They're the ones in trouble."

- _Maybe the monitor can help us_ \- Ally adviced and pointed over to the monitor that had turned to life.

"Uh, okay..." Clara moved to the monitor and pushed a key, "...but...who?"

Elias leaned forwards in her arms, small hands trying to reach the keyboard. Apparently he had people in mind but he didn't have a way to communicate it to Clara.

"Okay Clara, think, who would the Doctor and Minerva call if they got into trouble?"

Ally's eyes drifted to the side as several ideas came to mind. But then how would she get it to Clara without raising suspicions. - _Let's uh...let's go through the monitor_ \- she suggested. Clara nodded and followed Ally's instructions to get through the 'affiliations' tab.

"Martha Jones? No, sorry, Martha Smith?" Clara read off the file of a dark-skinned woman.

"No!" came Elias' voice.

"Not her?"

"No!"

Clara moved onto the next one. "Uh, okay! Um, Astrid Peth? Who's that!?"

If Elias had been older, he would have rolled his eyes.

- _Alien_ \- Ally shook her head. - _But she's not available anyways_ -

"How would you know?" Clara shot her a suspicious look.

- _Because it says she's living on Earth_ \- Ally played it off perfectly. - _We need someone people who can get here on their own and who are skilled_ \- And Ally had the perfect people in mind. - _Keep going_ -

Clara sighed and continued to go through several more people until Ally gave a quick shout to stop.

"Yes!" Elias suddenly exclaimed.

Clara had stopped on the profile of a woman with big, brown, curly hair and blue eyes. "River Song? Who's that?"

- _Never mind that and just call_ \- Ally ordered.

"Right, right," and despite Clara not knowing exactly where she was calling, much less who, she went ahead and pushed through a call to River Song.

~ 0 ~

Needless to say that after River had listened in to the problem, she was more than ready to go in and help her mother and the Doctor. However, she just had to make a quick stop for the best alliy in the world.

Blonde-haired Jenny was practicing combat style with another woman, a friend named Irene, when someone shot with a blaster right beside them. Jenny whirled around to see River standing at the threshold of the room. "Uh, _knock_ maybe!?"

River smirked and put away her blaster. "I like making entrances. Listen up sis, we've got a problem - well, problems." Jenny nodded at her friend that it was time call the session over. Jenny straightened up and listened to River continue explaining what was going on. "I don't know who it was but Elias was with her. Apparently, my Moonie-Mummy and the Doctor have gotten themselves into some terrible trouble. You up for a rescue mission?"

A big smirk settled on Jenny's face. "Am I ever."

~ 0 ~

Clara sat on the console chair holding Elias who now had his teddy bear Roger. He had been fussing and crying, impatiently waiting for River to arrive. Clara had tried everything in her power to calm him and make him see everything would be okay. But after all that had happened lately, she could understand why Elias was so uneasy. A full day had passed over since she made the call and there were still no newcomer. Clara wondered if she should just make up some sort of plan herself and hope that it would turn out fine. Then she realized if something happened to her then Elias would truly be alone. Or things could go even worse where Elias could be hurt and Clara would never forgive herself if she let a baby get hurt because of her. She resolved the best thing she could was to wait for the help to come.

Eventually, she began to hear the locks of the TARDIS doors turning. She jumped out of her chair and hid behind the time rotor, "Stay back!" she shouted once she heard the doors opening, "I'm armed…" her eyes scanned the area around them for anything she could use, "...with...a...baby?" she let her head hang at the lame threat.

"You use my baby brother as a weapon and I'll shoot you on the spot," came River's cold threat, her blaster aimed in front of her as she and Jenny came inside.

Elias squealed, his entire demeanor changing when he saw his two sisters coming in. Clara came around the console slowly, still nervous.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" River demanded while Jenny took Elias from Clara, the blonde also suspicious.

"Where's our parents?" Jenny looked around with a deep frown as she saw no sign of Minerva nor the Doctor.

"I-I'm Clara, remember?" she introduced herself. "I'm the one that called you and - hold on," she blinked and glanced at Jenny, "Did you just say _parents_?"

River didn't lower her blaster. Instead, her eyes narrowed. "Elias?" came the sharp edge in her voice.

"Good," Elias said.

Clara breathed a sigh of relief when River finally lowered the blaster.

"Where the hell is my Moonie? What's happened here?"

"Who's Moonie?" Clara frowned.

Jenny sighed and pulled River back, "She's clearly new around here, River. Take it easy."

River rolled her eyes, "Fine, Clara, was it?" she looked at the brunette who nodded, "Can you tell us where our parents are?"

"I would, if I knew exactly where that was," Clara slowly lowered her hands, "There's this woman that has some sort of town, Sweetville, where all these people go in but never come out. Minerva and the Doctor went in to go see what was wrong but then the transmission broke…"

Elias began to whimper.

"We'll get them back, El, you'll see," Jenny tickled his stomach and made him smile. "When have your big sisters ever let you down, hm?"

"So...Elias has _sisters_?" Clara blinked and studied the two women who really looked nothing alike.

River smirked, "Oh, it's a complicated story for both of us," she motioned between herself and Jenny, "It's best to get to work first then talk."

~ 0 ~

Another day passed and there was still no plan of rescue for Minerva and the Doctor. Clara sat on the small steps with her chin on her hand, elbows on her lap, and watched as River walked around the console arguing with Jenny who was following behind. Even Elias had joined in and followed the two women in his baby-walker, babbling to them as his input on the disagreement.

"We can't do that, Jenny! It's suicide!" River exclaimed, shaking her head.

Jenny continued to follow her and insist, "You haven't come up with anything better!"

"Because you haven't let me, clearly! We need something safer!"

Jenny scoffed, "Safer? Since when do you care about safety?"

Elias swiveled his little legs in an attempt to move his baby-walker faster and catch up with them, "No! No!" he exclaimed, clearly upset himself.

- _Are you gonna say something?_ \- Ally stood by the rails of the steps, watching along with Clara, - _They've been at this for a day_ -

Clara rubbed her temples as the shouting grew louder, until finally she shouted over all three, "ENOUGH!" all three turned to look at her. Clara stood up and crossed her arms, "It's been a day and neither of you have done anything productive! At this rate, I could've gone in myself to get them back!"

"It's her fault," Jenny accused River, "I have a plan but she doesn't want to use it."

River sighed, exasperated enough to share her true feelings, "I don't want a plan that risks my sister's life and our parents' lives. Usually, it's just me on my own so if anything happens it's on me and that's fine."

Jenny started to smile, "Well this one's on me. And besides, I'm the Doctor's daughter. I know a couple things about plans."

"Yeah, well I'm my Moonie's daughter and I know well enough that the Doctor's plans are _never_ easy."

"Why do you talk like that?" Clara interjected the conversation, "You're both their kids - apparently."

Jenny chuckled, "Long story. For now, only know that Elias is technically the only kid that shares genes from Minerva and the Doctor."

"Yay!" Elias squealed, though he didn't understand what that meant.

"Okay," River said more calmly, "So this plan...couldn't we at least try to do less risky things? I mean, this time, if we don't get it right Elias loses his parents and his sisters."

Jenny agreed that wouldn't be good, "Okay, how do we risk it then? One of us needs to get into that Sweetville place to find our parents."

Clara bit her lip, hating what she would say but it was the only thing to do, "...risk me," both River and Jenny looked at her in surprise, "I can go in...no one ever saw me."

"It'd be dangerous," River reminded as a warning.

Clara shakily smiled, "Wouldn't be the first time. Look, I can go in and try to find them. I only have to find one to find the other."

"While that's true you still have to be conscious of the danger," Jenny insisted.

"It wouldn't be the first time I have to go in and save the Doctor and Minerva," Clara went down the small steps towards the women, "And let's be honest, it would be better if something happened to me than either of you. Elias wouldn't mind, he doesn't like me very much."

At the accusation, River and Jenny looked down at their younger brother questioningly. Elias smiled and covered his eyes to hide himself.

"That's weird," Jenny bent down in front of him, "Elias is a sweet little thing," she tickled his stomach, making him giggle, "He likes everyone."

"Yes!" the baby exclaimed happily, making Clara glare.

"Yeah, well, not me," she huffed, "So let's get to the plan. There's no more time to waste."

Agreeing, Jenny rose to her feet and turned to River, "Let's get started," she declared and so they did.

~ 0 ~

Clara took a deep breath as she waited her turn to sign up for Mrs. Gillyflower's Sweetville recruiting. She'd complied with Jenny's plan and gotten herself a place at Gillyflower's speeches. The old woman could talk for hours and she had, something proving struggle for Clara. Still, the human had managed to keep awake and acting as if she paid full attention.

Now, as it became her turn to sign her name, Gillyflower awaited her by the podium, "You wish to join us, my dear?" the old woman asked.

"Um...if it's all the same with you...ma'am," Clara slowly answered, hoping she wouldn't give herself up simply because she couldn't put on an accent.

"Oh, yes, dear," Gillyflower smiled at the woman, "You'll do very nicely."

- _Oh, she is so gonna pay for whatever she did to Minerva and the Doctor_ \- Ally declared while Clara signed her name on the ledger.

~ 0 ~

Not very far away, in an alley, the TARDIS was tucked in nicely. River was out in the street looking about for anything that could give them an idea if the plan had gone wrong. At the sound of her younger brother's babbling, River glanced to the alley to see Jenny coming out with Elias strapped to the papoose his parents had often used.

"Yes, yes, my you can talk a lot," Jenny patted the baby's head as she locked up the TARDIS.

"You're forgetting who his father is," River smirked and walked back to them, "Poor Elias never had a chance."

Jenny rolled her eyes and turned to face the curly-haired woman, "Leave my Dad out of this."

"Ah!" Elias seemed to want to agree with Jenny.

"So," Jenny's blue eyes scanned their immediate area, "Everything look clear?"

"Well," River gave a shrug, "There's no screaminG or anything so I'd say Clara's still alive. But I don't know if sending her in was the right thing to do. The last thing I want is to explain to my Moonie why we killed her companion."

"We're not gonna kill her," Jenny started for the street, "She seemed smart - and brave. Those are two qualities necessary for traveling with our parents."

"I just hope she finds one of them fast," Jenny sighed.

"My money's on her finding the Doctor first," River smirked as they stepped out to the streets, making way for Sweetville, "All she needs to do is ignore all keep-out signs, go through every locked door, and run towards any form of danger that presents itself to find him."

Elias giggled, "Yes!" he exclaimed happily. He thought finding his father would be far easier than finding his mother too.

River smiled at him and tickled his chin, "Something I suppose you'll pick up once you can walk, huh?" she could already see him - and had at some points - all grown up and running about much like his father did 24/7. The only thing making a difference is that Elias would have Minerva's restrain helping him out every now and then.

~ 0 ~

- _Stop fidgeting_ \- Ally warned to Clara from her side, the two waiting in line now in the actual factory of Gillyflower's.

"I can't help it," Clara whispered in response, knowing she was repeatedly tapping her left shoe in her nervousness.

- _If you don't someone will notice and_ \- but Ally never got to finish that sentence as another woman behind Clara spoke up.

"I'm dead nervous too," the young woman said, making Clara glance back, "They have to be sure, you see. Only the best for Sweetville! I hope me teeth don't let me down. I'm Abigail."

Clara gave a small small, "Please to meet you."

"You're not local, are you?" Abigail took a look at the nervous brunette.

"No, I'm, um...from London," Clara swallowed hard, forcing herself to stop tapping her shoe.

"Different here, I bet."

"You have no idea," Clara said, unable to help widening her eyes, "But listen, do you know anyone who's come to live here? In Sweetville, I mean."

Abigail's smile faded a little, "I... I had a pal who come here three month back. She wrote to tell me how perfect it all were. Funny, though. I've not heard a peep from her since."

- _Wonder why_ \- Ally sourly remarked, huffing and crossing her arms.

"Next, please!" the head of the line ordered.

"Hang on, we're moving," Abigail excitedly said and moved forwards along with Clara.

- _Clara, look at that_ \- Ally was now staring at a door reading 'No Entry' near them. Clara turned her head and spotted the door, instantly knowing what she had to do next.

"What are you doin'?" Abigail blinked as Clara moved over to the door and tried unlocking it with a bobby pin.

"Can you do me a favor, please?" Clara looked back with a sheepish smile, "Cause a distraction, no?"

"What?"

Ally seemed to have no patience and moved towards the woman - _Oh for God's sake_ \- and with no further words she pushed the poor woman forwards, causing her to knock down some people in the front.

With the big commotion to get everyone back on their feet, Clara was able to sneak in through the door with no problem. On the other side there was pure machinery of the factory. She covered her ears as she quickly crossed the room but was forced to stay back in hiding when two men were nearing a lift carrying flasks of red liquid.

~ 0 ~

River and Jenny had Coroner, of the morgue, show them the chemicals that had been picked up on corpses.

Coroner pushed open a curtain revealing many glass jars on the shelves, "Them new manufacturers can do 'orrible things to a person. 'Orrible. I've pickled things in here that'd fair turn your hair snowy as top of Buckden Pike."

Elias was mesmerized by the colorful jars and actively tried to reach his small hands for them. Jenny patted his head and looked at Coroner, "You know which one we're looking for," they'd done research on the corpses found in the canal near the Sweetville factory and after having talked to Edmund, an apparent friend their parents had before disappearing, the red liquid was key to figuring out the evil plan brewing.

"Oh, aye," Coroner nodded, "All them bits found in't canal. The Crimson Horror!" he reached down to pick up a long-necked bottle that held the red liquid needed.

River furrowed her brow at the colorful liquid, "I've seen that somewhere before…"

Jenny looked at her step-sister in confusion, "Where?"

"One of my...fun trips," River briefly mentioned her rogue trips around Elias as the baby was quite intrigued on what she would do there.

"And due to that we should be…?"

"Far more worried on what this woman is going to do with it," River sucked in a breath and stared at the bottle, "We need to speak to Clara, now!"

~ 0 ~

Clara had gotten herself into a lift undetected and was now freely walking down a hallway. Ally was far ahead of her looking out in case someone was coming their way.

Clara felt the bracelet around her wrist vibrate, recalling River explaining to her the use of this special Moontsay bracelet that it also contained some sort of communication system within its middle. Apparently, Minerva had made some for River and Jenny as well. Clara lifted her wrist to speak into it, "Hello?"

"Clara!" it was River, "Please tell me you've found one of them by now?"

"Em…" Clara pursed her lips, "...do you want the truth or a lie of good news?"

River sighed, "Keep looking - Jenny and I are in the factory as well. We'll try to find one of them on our side but please hurry."

"I got it," Clara assured and saw Ally motioning her to hurry over, "Gotta go!" she turned the communication off and ran down the remainder of the hall where Ally awaited near a spiraling staircase.

The two women went up the stairs and started hearing banging noises from a nearby room on the upstairs floor. Clara ran over to the door and pulled on its handle only to find it locked.

- _Clara, look_ \- Ally pointed to the panel on the lower part of the door.

Clara knelt down and lifted the panel to see into the room. But instead, a red-skinned hand reached out and grabbed her by the neck. She gasped and scratched the hand until it let go, and as it did she fell back.

"Okay…" she swallowed hard and looked at Ally, "...should I run or try to see what's inside?" and she was really hoping Ally wouldn't say…

- _We need to see what's inside_ -

Clara groaned and got back to her feet, "I was afraid you would say that," she took a deep breath and approached the door once more, this time addressing whatever was inside the room, "Alright then - what ever you are - just stay calm now," she jumped at the sound of heavy chains going against the door, "I can open this door," her voice was now shaky with fear, "But...but if I do...you can't hurt me, do you understand? I'm...armed," the chains banged again but in a softer tone implying it agreed with her terms, "Alright then...stand back," Clara pulled out another bobby pin from her hair and started to unlock the door, "I don't want to hurt you," she assured them, "But I swear if you try anything my friends will leave you in a state of pain…"

- _You suck at making threats_ \- Ally bluntly remarked while she waited for Clara to open the door.

"Don't worry, I don't intend on becoming a cop," Clara sarcastically replied before throwing open the door, "Oh my God…" was her first reaction to see the Doctor on the other side of the room.

Even Ally had been left in a state of shock.

It appeared the Doctor had been covered in the red liquid as well. His mouth and arms were stuck in place, almost frozen, unable to speak.

"How did…?" Clara slowly went towards the man while he tried walking towards her in a monster-like manner, "What's happened to you?" the Doctor could only grunt and his eyes drifted to his clothes lying on the floor.

- _I don't think he can talk, Clara_ \- Ally was directly in front of the Doctor studying his skin that was frozen in place, - _That's a first_ -

"Not the time," Clara hissed at her and hurried for the Doctor's clothes, "Okay, we're getting out of here," she declared and ran back to release the Doctor from his chains, "Cos if I found you then you can find Minerva!"

At the mention of his wife, the Doctor became more loud with his grunts, motioning he wanted to go already. He didn't quite know where his Clever Girl was at the moment, their rings having been taken off before being dumped into the red poison thus ending their telepathic communication.

Clara helped the Doctor into some shoes before heading out, "You know, it's a bit funny seeing you walk," she remarked as the Time Lord walked straight-legged down the hallway with her.

The grunt he gave afterwards was probably one of irritation.

"Oh calm down, it's only a remark," Clara smiled at him, "But I could really use a camera right now. Bet Elias would love to see this," and then the Doctor stopped and looked even more panicked than before. Clara knew he'd only just then realized she was alone without his son, "Oh no, no! He's fine, I promise," Clara raised a hand, "He's actually with his sisters...which by the way I still don't understand how they're yours and Minerva's. But I promise, Elias is okay."

With the reassurance, the Doctor continued to walk in his unusual manner. They made their way down to the first floor and the Doctor was the one to lead her to an open hallway where a booth-like set was placed against the wall. As he could, he reached both arms to the handle of the door.

"You want to go in there?" Clara frowned and peered inside the small room, "Why?"

- _I think it's gonna help him_ \- Ally studied the reactions of the Time Lord, - _Either way, just do it_ -

Clara opened the door for the Doctor and helped him into the booth, handing him his clothes. He reached into his pocket and managed to pull out his screwdriver, activating the controls with it.

"I sure hope this works," Clara mumbled as she closed the door. Immediately afterwards, two of the workers passed by, making her squeeze in-between the booth and other machinery. Once more, she felt the bracelet on her wrist vibrate, "Hello?" she activated the communication.

"Clara!" it was now Jenny on the other line, "We-"

"I found him!" Clara interrupted her, "I found the Doctor and he's...fixing himself, I guess," she finished confused.

"That's great!" Jenny exclaimed happily, "We found Mum too but she's, um…"

"Let me guess," Clara slipped out of her hiding place, "She's covered in red poison and unable to move?"

"Yeah...how'd you know that?"

"Because that's exactly how I found the Doctor, and chained up too," Clara sighed, "He was kept like some prisoner."

At the same time, the Doctor popped out of the booth returned to his normal self - even clothed with bowtie and all!

"Ah! Missed me!?" he cheered happily.

"Honestly, yes!" Clara nodded wearing her own smile, "Your daughters and son are driving me _crazy_!"

"Elias!" the Doctor's eyes widened and turned away, "No, Minerva! No…"

"Doctor, I've got good news: they found her," Clara held the Time Lord still so he would listen, "Jenny and River, they found Minerva! Oh!" she quickly took off the bracelet and held it to the Doctor.

"That's Jenny's," he pointed with a small frown before taking it, "Jenny?"

"Dad!" Jenny's excited voice came through the other side, "Oh thank God you're back to normal. We need a little help with mum…"

"Listen to me, where are you? Where is she?"

"I don't know…" Jenny seemed to be thinking about it and suddenly they could hear River's voice in the background, "...it's, um...well there's a lot of...red people in here…"

"The reject room," the Doctor realized, having recalled the mention of it before he'd been taken away and chained up.

"I guess…" Jenny said, "...she's here...and she can't really move...and it's getting difficult cos Elias is scared to death and won't quit crying!"

"Can you pick her up?"

"Well...yeah…"

"Excellent! Cos that's all you need to bring her here!"

"But Dad-"

"Just do it!"

With a deep, annoyed sigh Jenny agreed and promised they would get to the apparently magical booth that revived aliens/humans after the Doctor gave them instructions. As they waited, Clara filled him in on what his children had done in the meantime, starting from how Elias got her to contact them up to their present place. In return, the Doctor explained how he and Minerva ended up thrown in a wicked bucket of poison and of his path to the room upstairs.

As soon as he caught a noise of a baby's babble, he zoomed towards the other end of the hallway and was grateful to see his children together and alright, yet horrified to see his wife covered in the same red poison and paralyzed.

"We found her clothes!" Jenny exclaimed, cheerful for the fact as she raised Minerva's wedding ring, "Along with this," she added triumphantly, knowing how much the rings meant to her parents.

"I love you!" the Doctor pointed at her as he carefully led Minerva to the booth.

Soon after, Elias gave a sort of indignant yelp at his father for his comment, making Jenny huff, "Jealousy is not a good color on you, El."

"How does that thing work?" River inquired and handed her mother's clothes, save the ring, to the frozen Minerva now inside the booth.

"Like a rejuvenating booth, promise," the Doctor replied, more so to Minerva who was probably wondering the same thing. It was awful to have to revert back to their non-telepathic ways. It had been a plain torture to have to spend his time locked away without being able to communicate with her, not even knowing if she had survived the process to become one of those human dolls or worse - having died from the poison.

"Ah!" Elias' sudden squeal startled everyone, but even through their irritated looks the baby looking past them.

- _Clara, look_ \- Ally's voice instantly made Clara whirl to the end of the hallway where she saw what Elias frantically tried telling them. Gillyflower's Pilgrims has found them and we're now heading for them.

"I'll hold them," River whipped out one of her blasters, a smirk on her face that had the Doctor instantly warning her.

"No killing, River!"

"After what they did to my Moonie?" she gave him a hard look, clearly intent on getting revenge on the enemies.

"They're under Gillyflower's control, so no killing them," the Doctor reiterated, "Plus, there _is_ a child here?"

River's eyes drifted to Elias who was keenly awaiting for her to act and of course River couldn't put that example out for him. She was a murderer alright, but at least Elias shouldn't have to see it yet.

With annoyance and resignation, she flicked a switch on her blaster, "It's on a stun setting," she explained before she went into fighting mode.

Clara watched with nothing but confusion, "Seriously, she's your daughter?" she gave the Doctor and 'I don't believe you' face.

"Well...not exactly," the Doctor would really rather leave explanations for after he had his wife back, but it didn't seem Clara was on the same page.

"How do you mean, then?" Clara made a face, "If she's not exactly your daughter then what is she?"

The Doctor released a big breath, now impatiently waiting for the booth to finish up, "Step-daughter, if you'd like!"

Clara blinked, "Woah, Minerva had a kid with someone else?"

The question set off an alarm in the Doctor's mind, and he immediately shouted at her, "NO! Never!"

Clara tilted her head in thought, "Then how…"

"Clara!" the Doctor exclaimed, making her flinch in place, "Please, now is not the time," he motioned to the booth, which at that point, dinged with its finished noise making the Doctor's annoyance vanished.

He opened the door and out popped Minerva, as her usual self, and quite irritated, "Oh I am going to kick some human ass!" she declared.

Elias giggled and captured her attention, "My baby!" she rushed to get ahold of her son who happily went with her. She showered his head with kisses, relieved he had been taken care of well while they were gone.

"I mean, it's not like I wanted a kiss or two…" the Doctor glumly said, fiddling with his sleeve.

While Clara and Jenny rolled their eyes, Minerva handed Elias to Jenny and turned with a cheerful smile. She walked back to him and threw her arms around his neck while she planted a big kiss on his lips. "Hello my Martian - I've missed you," she murmured against his lips.

The Doctor held her wedding ring to which she laughed delightedly. He took her hand and slipped the ring down her finger. ' _I've missed you too, Kaeya_.'

Minerva's smiled widened.

"If you two are done, we should get going," River's voice cut into the moment. She had taken down the Pilgrims and was expectantly waiting for them to finish and leave.

Clara was mildly shocked the woman had been able to take them all down without breaking a sweat. "I'm sorry, _she's_ your daughter?" she found herself asking once again.

Minerva blinked with a light guilt upon realizing poor Clara was probably overwhelmed with two unknown kids of theirs. She did, however, wonder how they came across River and Jenny the more she thought about it.

Once the group left the hallway with the booth, Minerva made her question to the three women. "So, how exactly did you make contact with these two?" she asked Clara and nodded to Jenny and River on either side of her.

"On the monitor, we went through the contacts until Elias saw River," Clara shrugged.

"Well, thank you, El," the Doctor tickled Elias and kissed his head, "I knew having a kid would be a good idea," he remarked to Minerva afterwards.

"Oh yes," Minerva sarcastically nodded, "Because when I thought about having a kid it was definitely so that they would save us when we got into trouble."

"No!" Elias shook his head, intending on sounding offended by the idea.

"Don't worry, El, that's certainly not why you were brought up," River sent a smirk towards the alien parents, "Accident!" she discreetly coughed, making Jenny laugh.

"River!" both Minerva and the Doctor cried in mortification. Elias, not understanding, only squealed, excited he had his entire family together and were having fun.

Clara, feeling more of secondhand embarrassment than fun, cleared her throat and raised a hand, "Um, can we go back to the problem here?"

"Yes," Minerva quickly answered her, "I don't suppose any of you decided to research what was going on here?"

"Of course we did, mum," Jenny nudged her, "How else do we combat the enemy?"

"The red liquid is a poison deriving from ancient times," River began, "Like a sort of parasite.

"So it's evolved in some way," Minerva assumed by common sense.

"I've been thinking about the chimney," Clara spoke up but the Doctor cut her off with his out loud thinking rambles.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Way past that now!" he waved her a hand to be quiet, "Yucky red parasite from the time of the dinosaurs pitches up in Victorian Yorkshire. Didn't see that one coming!"

"When do we ever, dear?" Minerva languidly sighed and took to bouncing Elias in her arms.

"Um, but the chimney…" Clara persisted but was once more shot down.

"But what's the connection to Mrs Gillyflower? 'Judgement will rain down on us all...'"

- _Yeah, you're gonna have to shout or something_ \- Ally advised Clara.

"...An empty mill…" the Doctor was realizing when Clara took charge and grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to listen to her.

"A chimney that doesn't blow smoke."

"Clever clogs," he said proudly.

"I'm not just a pretty face," she tapped her temple, ignoring Ally's teasing laughter from behind.

~ 0 ~

After discovering Gillyflower would be using a makeshift rocket to poison the air, the group decided to confront Gillyflower herself and embarked to find her office. In the meantime, River and Jenny were to find a way to stop the rocket from being launched through the chimney.

Upon coming to a hallway, they came across a Gillyflower's blind daughter, Ada, lonely sitting on a crate, sobbing. Seeing her shook the Doctor, as the woman had been the reason he had lived better than his wife in the reject room.

Ada was able to hear the footsteps of the trio and looked up, "Who's that?" she called, "Who is there?"

The Doctor didn't say a word to her as he came to kneel down in front of her, taking her hands and placing them on her face so she could identify him.

"You. It's you! My monster," Ada said with a light hint of joy, "You've come back! But you're…"

"Warm. And alive. Thanks to you, Ada," the Doctor smiled, "You saved me from your mother's human rubbish tip. Now, what's wrong?"

"She does not want me, monster! I am not to be chosen. Perhaps it was my own sin, the blackness in my heart, that my father saw in me."

"Oh no, you are not going to let your mother blame you for nonsense," Minerva had to speak up on that one, unable to match the situation with her earth mother. "Sorry, I should probably identify myself before making remarks," she sheepishly came forwards, along with Clara, "I'm Minerva, the wife of the idiot monster."

"Hey!" the Doctor frowned at such an awful introduction, growing even more irritated when Elias set loose a giggle.

Minerva rolled her eyes and handed Elias over to Clara, ignoring the baby's fuss over the action. She came towards Ada and set a hand on the woman's arm, "Ada, we need you tell us something - who is Mr Sweet?"

Ada immediately looked away, "Oh…"

"Please tell us," Minerva insisted gently, "It would help us a lot."

"I cannot! Even now, I cannot! I cannot betray Mama."

"Well, come with us, then," the Doctor got to his feet, determined to at least let her see the truth, "There's something you need to know."

~ 0 ~

While Gillyflower was surprised to see Minerva and the Doctor up and about, she was more amused by their persistence. Even as the trio barged into her office without knocking, she didn't reprimand.

"You do seem to keep turning up like bad pennies," she cast eyes over the alien pair for a moment before seeing Elias and Clara, "Ooh, but now with a baby and a pretty girl."

Instinctively, Clara held Elias closer to her, "You don't touch this baby," she warned the old woman.

Elias tilted his head up to Clara and grinned, "Ah!"

Clara took that as a 'thank you' and smiled back. Meanwhile, Minerva and the Doctor got straight to business with Gillyflower.

"Um, so we're basically going to stop you," Minerva declared and glanced to the Doctor for agreement, which she received by a nod.

Gillyflower smirked at the pair, "I'm afraid Mr Sweet and I cannot allow that."

"Oh, yes. Would it be impolite to ask why you and Mr. Sweet are petrifying your workforce with diluted prehistoric venom?" the Doctor casually threw the question out there.

"Or when exactly do we get to meet this silent partner of yours?" Minerva added to the questions, "Why's he so shy?"

"Mr. Sweet is always with us," Gillyflower patted a hand over her chest.

Minerva eyed the action suspiciously, once more glancing with the Doctor to see if he caught the act as well. "You seem to have a very close relationship, you and your pal," she later commented to the old woman.

"Oh yes," she nodded, "Exceedingly close. Symbiotic, you might say."

Ally appeared behind Gillyflower, a distasteful look on her face as the woman had begun unfastening the top part of her gown, - _I don't like where this is going_ -

Clara fully agreed after Gillyflower revealed a large, red leech attached near her clavicle bone. The leech languidly glanced at the group to show off a round mouth full of sharp teeth. Clara couldn't help feel like she had to cover Elias' eyes to stop him from seeing a potential nightmare.

"That...that is _disgusting_ ," Minerva declared after a minute of staring at the leech being fed by Gillyflower.

"What is it?" Clara had to ask to fill her curiosity.

"A survivor!" Gillyflower exclaimed with pride, "He has grown fat on the filth humanity has pumped into the rivers. That's where I found him."

"Very enterprising," the Doctor muttered, crinkling his nose at the sight.

"His needs are simple. And in return, he gives me his nectar."

"Mrs. Gillyflower, you have no idea what you're dealing with! In the wrong hands, that venom could wipe out all life on this planet!"

With a smirk, Gillyflower raised her palms to the trio, "Do you know what these are? The wrong hands!" she leaned over to a mechanism and pulled down a lever.

Upon doing so, the Doctor looked out the window to see the chimney being lighted up. "Planning a little fireworks party, are we?"

"You've forced me to advance the Great Work somewhat, Doctor. But my colossal scheme remains as it was. My rocket will explode high in the atmosphere, raining down Mr. Sweet's beneficence onto all humanity."

"And wiping us all out! You can't!" Clara, in her terror, went for the woman but Minerva barred the way with an arm.

"My new Adam and Eves will sleep for but a few months before stepping out into a golden dawn," Gillyflower clapped her hands, "Is it not beautiful, Doctor?"

"Absolutely not," Minerva answered, "But why not deviate a little bit and you tell us about Ada instead?"

"What?" Gillyflower, confused looked between the trio.

"Your daughter. You do remember your daughter?" Minerva arched an eyebrow, the bile of disgust against the woman rising quickly in her throat. She knew what Gillyflower had done to Ada and could not restrain her own mother instincts inclining her bias against Gillyflower.

"How can you speak of such trivia when my hour is at hand? The child is of no consequence."

"Is that why you experimented on her?" the Doctor asked, his tone taking on a darker edge, feeling much like Minerva.

"Experimented?" Clara, shocked, couldn't help glance back at the open doorway where they had left Ada listening in.

- _Talk about worst mother of the century_ \- Ally shook her head, also feeling terrible for the young, innocent woman.

"The signs are all there. The pattern of scarring," the Doctor explained their knowledge, "You used her as a guinea pig, didn't you?"

Gillyflower remained completely at ease, free of guilt despite of what she was being accused of, "Sometimes, sacrifices must be made."

Minerva's eyes widened, "Sacrifices?"

"It was necessary!" the elderly woman sounded indignant, almost like it acceptable, "I had to find out how much of the venom would produce an anti-toxin. To immunize myself! Don't you see? It was necessary!"

Ada used her cane to walk inside the room, having heard everything, "Mama? Is it... Is it true?"

Gillyflower was stunned to see her daughter walk in, "Ada…"

"It is. It's true. True."

Gillyflower took several steps towards Ada, "Ada, listen to me."

Ada formed a scowl and went for her mother, insulting her, "You hag! You perfidious hag! You virago! You harpy! All these years, I have helped you, served you. Looked out for you. Does it count for nothing? Nothing at all?" she didn't wait to be answered and began striking her cane over her mother.

"Stop! Stop!" cried Gillyflower, who in vain put her hands up to cover her face. When Ada stopped, she took a breath and leaned on the door.

"Clara, what are you doing?" Minerva asked as Clara handed her Elias then went for a chair, assuming it was for the controls.

"Hang on," the Doctor called, fishing a hand inside his pocket, "I've got the sonic screwdriver."

Clara rolled her eyes and went ahead with her table, "Yeah, well, I've got a chair!" she swung it over the controllers.

Gillyflower saw the sparks fly from the broken machinery and cried, "No!"

Minerva raised her eyebrows at the sight, "Well...that worked," she glanced at the Doctor, "Didn't it?"

The Doctor lightly sighed, it hadn't been his preferred way but it did get the job done. He glanced at the old woman across them, "I'm afraid your rocket isn't going anywhere, Mrs G."

Gillyflower ignored him by calling for her daughter, "Please, come to me, Ada," Ada foolishly walked to her mother, "My child," Gillyflower took her into a hug, "You have always been so very…" she whipped out a revolver and threatened Ada on the side of the head, "...useful."

"You're really going to do this!?" Minerva was horrified to see a mother do that to their own child. She held Elias closer to her, unable to fathom such an idea.

"Please, Mama," sobbed Ada who didn't even try to fight for her freedom, "No more. No more."

Gillyflower ignored her and started backtracking, "And now, if you'll please forgive us, we must be going. It is long past Ada's bedtime!"

Ally appeared just beside the doorway when Gillyflower pushed her daughter out the room. - _I cannot believe this vile woman_ -

Clara was about to run after the two but the Doctor caught her by the arm, "No, Clara. If we follow straight after her, she'll shoot Ada on the spot."

Clara gaped at the idea, "She wouldn't!"

"Oh, she would," Minerva muttered, gently stroking her son's hair.

Elias tilted his head up to her, a small pout on his face, ' _Mommy, we have to help her! She helped Daddy…_ "

"Of course we are going to help her," Minerva kissed his head and looked at the others, in need of a clever idea.

~ 0 ~

Gillyflower had brought her daughter to the chimney where the controllers of the rocket full of poison were located in. She was dragging Ada up the stairs, the revolver still firmly against her head, when the travelers caught up from the bottom.

"Just let her go, Mrs Gillyflower," the Doctor called out, "Let Ada go!"

Gillyflower laughed, "Secondary firing mechanism, Doctor! Mr Sweet and I are too smart for you, after all."

Minerva shook her head, "Just let your daughter go, Mrs. Gillyflower," she shouted angrily, "She's your daughter for God's sake!"

Ada managed to break away but slipped and fell to the landing. As she pulled herself up with the hand rail, Gillyflower cocked the revolver at her, "Ada!"

"Shoot, if you wish, Mama," Ada's voice shook with fear, but also resigned to whatever fate her mother condemned her to, "It is of no matter, for you killed me a long time ago!"

The Doctor had tried to discreetly go to her but was nearly shot at by Gillfyflower above. He fell back, hands over his head, but received no injury. Gillyflower fired when he tried to do it all over again, and once she was sure no one would try it again she focused on the control box. However, as she did, the Doctor finally reached Ada without being caught.

A maniacal laughter rand throughout the chimney as Gillyflower activated the rocket and sent it launcing to the sky, "Now, Mr Sweet, now the whole world will taste your lethal kiss!"

Minerva smirked as she spotted two figures on the landing above, both holding the flask of venom that was supposed to be in the rocket.

"Guess again you old bat," she shouted and pointed to River and Jenny.

Gillyflower was furious to see her plan brought down by the two young women. "Very well, then. If I can't take the world with me, you will have to do. Die, you freaks! Die! Die!"

River rolled her eyes at the threat and pulled out her gun, "If I had a penny for every time I heard that one," without much effort, she shot a stun ray to the woman, but caused her to fall down the stairs.

Jenny made a face as she peered over the banister and saw Gillyflower half dead on the landing, "Ouch!"

"I'd say I'm sorry...but I'm not," River calmly put away her gun and followed her step-sister down the stairs, along with the others who were heading for Gillyflower.

"What's it doing?" Clara was the first to see the red leech crawling away from the old woman who begged it to stay.

Elias covered his eyes, though he quickly uncovered one to continue seeing. Just because it was disgusting didn't mean he wanted to miss out on anything else.

"It knows she's dying. She's no longer any use to it," the Doctor explained.

Gillyflower saw her daughter coming down the last flight of steps and immediately reached out for her, "Ada? Ada…."

Ada knelt down beside her, "I'm here, Mama."

"Forgive me, my child. Forgive me."

"Never," Ada darkly declared, though received a very honest response back.

"That's... my... girl," Gillyflower proudly uttered before dying.

The leech was getting farther away and thus intrigued Jenny, "Dad, what do we do with that thing?"

"Take it back to the Jurassic era, maybe. Out of harm's way."

But as soon as those words left the Doctor's mouth, Ada had found it with her cane and beat it to pieces.

"On the other hand…" Minerva couldn't help chuckle lightly. She was just glad she would finally be able to go home with her family.

~ 0 ~

After sending the flask to a confused Vastra, the time travelers returned to their TARDIS for a small get-together before each went on their separate ways. And, as usual, there was always bickering between the alien family, one that Clara wasn't quite used to.

"Will you ever learn how to land this thing properly!?" River shouted over at the Doctor after a very bumpy ride and landing back to Jenny's home.

"I know how to drive perfectly, thank you very much," the Doctor shot back at her from across the console, "You didn't have to come, you know."

"That's because I'd forgotten how lousy of a driver you were!"

"Hey, don't yell at my Dad like that," Jenny scolded playfully, joining the Doctor on the other side of the console.

River rolled her eyes, "Oh sure, take his side. But my Moonie takes _my_ side," she glanced at Minerva who'd been sitting on the jump chair with Elias on her lap, "Right, Moonie?"

"No, no, she's _my_ wife," the Doctor was quick to interject, "So she's taking my side...right Clever Girl?"

"Well she's my mother! So she takes my side," River insisted, once again looking at Minerva, "Right, Moonie-Mummy?"

Minerva sighed, "You know, Elias gives me less trouble than all of you put together. And he's not even one yet!"

Elias looked up from his teddy bear with a joyful squeal, "Ha!"

Clara was leaning against the small stairs' hand rails, arms crossed, studying the entire family. "You're the weirdest family I've ever met."

"Clara, we're the _only_ alien family you've ever met," Minerva corrected her with a laugh.

"Well, yeah, but…" Clara pushed herself off the rail, "...you talk weird. Those two," she pointed at River and Jenny, "They act like only one of you," she directed her other finger to Minerva and the Doctor, "is their parent…"

"Because they are," River said in a matter of fact way. She then turned to Minerva, "You haven't told her about us yet? I'm trying my best not to be offended."

"Yeah, so am I," Jenny crossed her arms, forming a pout.

"Clara," the Doctor walked towards the human, "You see, in reality, I'm Jenny's mother and father due to a prognetic machine. She literally grew from a sample of skin from my hand," he gestured to one of his hands, "She's completely mine."

"And River," Minerva called from her spot, "is partly mine. She shares a bit of my genes thanks to some awful experimentation our enemies did. She's nothing of the Doctor's, just mine and her two human parents."

Clara's eyes widened, her hands motioning them all to stop talking as her mind tried to process everything. Her eyes flickered between Jenny and the Doctor, to then River and Minerva. She could definitely match up features and characteristic traits with each's parents.

"So technically, Elias is the only one that's actually your son…?" she looked for confirmation from Minerva and the Doctor, "...right?"

"Well, biologically, yes," the Doctor nodded, "But there are no differences between him and his big sisters."

"Yeah!" Elias exclaimed and pushed his teddy bear off Minerva's lap. With his small hands, he leaned forwards and motioned to River he wanted to be taken by her.

"And we're just one odd family," River said as she took her younger brother into her arms, "Aren't we?" she tickled his stomach.

Elias giggled and nodded his head, "Yeah!"

"Okay," Clara shook his head, "I want to go home now. I'm exhausted."

- _You're just confused_ \- came Ally's teasing laughter from across the room. She sat over the rails and watched the entire interchange with smiles.

"Yeah, I better head out," Jenny walked towards her parents, first giving Minerva a hug then the Doctor, "This was fun, but I'd rather not see you when you guys are in trouble. Can't we ever do something normal, like...have tea?"

"Eugh, tea," Minerva crinkled her nose, "How about we just have lunch instead?"

Jenny laughed, "Anything, but nothing with danger…. _Dad_ ," she shot him a warning look.

"Amazing, it happens once and I'm branded for life," the Doctor feigned offense and turned for the console instead.

"Bye Dad," Jenny giggled and went for the doors, though stopped once to say goodbye to her two siblings. She kissed Elias on the head, "You keep them out of trouble, alright little guy?"

Elias nodded, "Yes!"

"Oh please," River rolled her eyes, "You're just as bad as them," she wagged her finger at the baby, "But I don't blame you - half of your genes come from him," she nodded back to the Doctor, instantly earning an 'oi' from the Time Lord.

"River," Minerva threw her a playful scolding look.

Jenny just sighed and sprinted for the doors, "Alright, gotta go. It was nice meeting you Clara," she glanced at the brunette who politely waved goodbye, "Good luck keeping up with my parents - they run a lot, and fast."

"I've noticed," Clara dramatically sighed before chuckling. Jenny waved one last time before heading out. Afterwards, Clara walked to the console, "Really, I do want to go home. I'm exhausted."

"And I think someone else is too," River returned a sleepy Elias back to Minerva, "Poor El, we tired him out."

"I think I'll goput him to sleep while the Doctor takes you both back home," Minerva announced, bending down to pick up Elias' fallen teddy bear.

"Bye Moonie," River gave her a hug and kissed Elias' head afterwards.

"Doctor," Minerva glanced at the Doctor, "I'll see you afterwards. There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

As the Doctor gave a confused nod, River snickered and mumbled to Clara, "Somebody's in trouble…" Clara couldn't help chuckle herself.

"River!" Minerva scolded though didn't look back as she walked towards the corridors. She knew very well how her daughter was, and no matter how many times she scolded her for it, River would never stop.

~ 0 ~

Just like she'd requested, after the Doctor finished sending Clara and River back home, he went to find Minerva in their bedroom. He was mildly surprised to find her sitting on the bed with Elias sleeping over her chest, the baby wrapped in his blue blanket. Beside Minerva were several papers and she even held a small journal in her hand.

When Minerva looked up and caught his questioning look, she just smiled and patted lias' back, "He wanted to stay with us tonight. It's been a day without his Mommy and Daddy and he was afraid we'd leave again."

"Poor El," the Doctor went to take his spot on the bed, "We sure do a number on him sometimes." He gathered up several of the papers lying on the bed and put them into a neat pile, "So what exactly are you doing?"

Minerva sighed, putting the journal down beside her, "I was looking into the Ally thing again."

"And is there anything new to report?"

"I don't know…" Minerva leaned her head back on the headboard, "See, cos I was thinking about the fact that only Clara and Elias can see her. And since we know Clara, at least this Clara, is human, I thought maybe I should look in more towards Elias' heritage. It turns out that on the Monsoon there was this old legend that said children of the Monsoon were able to see and talk to the spirits of our fallen."

The Doctor arched an eyebrow, "And...you think this is true?"

"I don't know, I mean...on the one hand...yeah, I think it's possible. But I'm also a biased person - I'm Moontsay and a hardcore believer of the afterlife. What about you, Mr. Science man? What do you think?"

"Well…let's see," the Doctor rested against the headboard, looking ahead as he thought, "My son has the ability to see things we can't, and just maybe that something is some Moontsay ancestor that, for some reason, has chosen a random human to communicate with?" he glanced at Minerva who was already making a face.

"Yeah, that does sound far stretch…" she sighed.

"Look, if the creature was _only_ seen by Elias, maybe it would have had more sense," the Doctor tried to ease her stressed mind, "But Clara can see her too. The two previous Clara's also saw the presumed same imaginary friend. Clara's not a Moontsay, so why can she see Ally?"

"I don't know," Minerva frowned, "I just want to figure out who and what Ally really is..."

"We will," the Doctor confidently nodded his head. "It'll just take a little more time than usual."

Of course neither knew that the time was coming for them to finally learn who Ally was.

~ 0 ~

That night, as Clara slept soundly after such a day, Ally appeared in front of the bedroom door. She sadly gazed upon her 'creator' and sighed.

"I shouldn't be here, I know, you're asleep," she started walking for the side of the bed, "But...it gets lonely on the other side," she smiled at Clara, "You're my only friend, well...you and Elias, and every other kid in the universe. But you're my special friend, Clara, and you can't ever know why," she sighed again and turned to her window.

Her eyes teared up and suddenly the only sound in the room besides Clara's breathing were Ally's sniffles. "You, nor Minerva and the Doctor can't ever know who I am. I'm a closed chapter in their lives, and it should stay like that."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

This episode was always so funny to me for some reason xD. Anyways, I hope you guys liked the little return of River and Jenny. I thought it would be fun putting them to save their parents...with little Elias trying to pitch in to...and then, you know, drive Clara crazy like an aunt xD.

 **Important note:** I don't know if you guys saw that I posted like 2 new stories (one of them a one shot for the time being) and I really really wanna post my second, truly drafted OC for the Doctor Who world. The only thing is that it starts at the beginning of season 5 and I don't want it to be too close to this story while it's still on season 7. My ideal gap is to wait for this story to move onto 12 and thus season 8. So I'm thinking of speeding up the updates for this story since there's only 4 chapters left. I hope that's fine with you!

 **For the Review:**

Hey! Aw, glad you caught up then! Yeeeeah I loved putting 12 in that chapter. I just love 12 overall actually xD. Oooooh you started season 10!? I loooove it! I think it could be Capaldi's finest season honestly. And Bill is just too cute! I can't wait to start writing her! Yeah I'm not gonna lie, Heather's whole star eye thing confused me a little but she made me so sad in the end when she and Bill were saying goodbye. My children *sobs* And yeah, I get you. I'm too much of an introvert to willingly get out of my comfort zone!

* * *

Sooo, next chapter (that will be coming sooner than 2 weeks) deals with Clara's kids, the big bad cyber-planner and the famous chess game ;)


	14. Nightmare in Silver

"No you just suck at this, please put that down," Minerva could not help herself to laugh as the Doctor tried his best to use a guitar. Elias, who was sat on a blanket beside his mother's chair, was swinging a small rattle to create noise like his father was. He thought it was music too!

"You could be nicer you know," the Doctor huffed and put the guitar in its. "It wasn't _that_ bad...was it?"

Minerva looked around innocently. "I do so incredibly love you, you know."

The Doctor wasn't amused. "Arlo?" the baby lowered the rattle at the call of his name. "Was it bad? Was Daddy bad at the guitar?"

"Uh-oh," Elias dropped the rattle to cover his eyes. Minerva burst into laughter.

"You both are so mean!" the Doctor exclaimed and stalked for the door to leave their music room.

"Oh c'mon, Martian," Minerva got up from her chair and picked Elias up from the floor. "Nobody says you have to be good at everything. Besides," she reached him just outside the room, "I much like it when you take us to wonderful, beautiful places. You're _very_ good at that."

The Doctor swayed his head, slowly coming around. "I guess I am..."

"Yes!" Elias said cheerily.

"So why not do that right now, hm?" suggested Minerva. "We could pick up Clara and have a nice adventure."

"Well if you look at me like that..." the Doctor made a gesture to her face which he thought was incredibly sweet at the moment. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

Minerva smirked, shaking her head. "Nope!" she popped the 'p' in the end. "God, what am I going to do when I change my face one day? You still gonna do what I want?"

"You're not changing," the Doctor sternly pointed at her then took her in the direction of the console. "Not anytime soon," he kissed her head then Elias'.

~ 0 ~

The TARDIS had materialized on a rocky moonscape environment. The Doctor was the first to poke his head outside, and seeing everything was well and safe he called for the rest to follow him out. Minerva came out first, holding Elias in her arms, followed by Clara...and the two kids she babysat Artie and Angie. The kids had tricked Clara into revealing she was a time traveler and were now threatening to tell their father if Clara didn't bring them along for a trip. So now...there they were.

"Well, here we are," the Doctor gestured with open arms, "Hedgewick's World - the biggest and best amusement park there will ever be and we've got a golden ticket!" he rushed up to a rock and turned to the others. "Eh, eh? Fun!"

"Yes!" came Elias' excited answer, practically bouncing in the papoose he was strapped to with Minerva. The Doctor pointed at him, sharing the equal excitement.

Unfortunately, Angie didn't seem to agree with them. "Your stupid box can't even get us to the right place. This is, like, a moon base or something."

"Excuse you," Minerva turned her head to the young pre-teen. "First of all, you don't have to be rude. Second of all, this looks like the moon but it's not…" Although now she looked doubtful herself as she glanced at the Doctor, "...is it?"

The Doctor huffed. "No! It's a Spacey Zoomer ride, or it was."

Suddenly, behind them, a door popped open from a large rock and a man peered out. "Psst! 'Scuse me," he called to the group, making them look back, "I don't suppose you happen to be my lift off the planet? Dave's Discount Interstellar Removals?"

"'Fraid not," Clara answered first.

"They were meant to be here six months ago," the man sighed, clearly disappointed. "That's Dave for you, see, unreliable."

"Stay where you are!" a new voice ordered the group, that of a woman.

The man looked alarmed. "Oops!" he quickly returned to his hiding place inside the rock just as a group of soldiers rounded on the others.

The woman that had first given the order stepped towards the group with a weapon in hand. "Throw down your weapons and identify yourselves."

While Minerva and Clara took defensive stances with their respective kids, the Doctor happily bounced in place. "No. No weapons! Golden ticket!" he waved his actual golden ticket in the air. "Spacey Zoomer? Free ice cream?"

"Yes!" Elias clapped his hands in excitement at the idea of ice cream. He loved ice cream!

The officer blankly looked at the Doctor. "Who are you? This planet is closed, by Imperial order."

The Doctor reached for his psychic paper and showed it to her. "How's this?"

The woman leaned forwards to see the contents of the paper and immediately dropped her authority tone. "Oh. Welcome, Proconsul. I wish they'd told us you were coming. Any news of the Emperor?"

The Doctor, adapting to the lie, shook his head. "Oh, the Emperor... No, no, none that you'd, er…"

"We pray for his return," the officer sighed. "If there is anything you need, my platoon is at your service."

"Right! Righty-oh. Well, carry on, Captain," the Doctor saluted her and received one back.

"Platoon, let's move out," she then ordered, turning to their direction. "On the double. Two, three, four! Two, three, four! Two, three, four!"

When the soldiers were gone, the man inside the rock poked his head out from the now-opened-again door. "Have they gone?"

"Yes," the Doctor turned to him, as did the others.

"Uniforms give me the heebie-jeebies. Come on," the mysterious man got out from the hiding spot and motioned to be followed. "They can't stop me being here, but they don't like it."

He led the group to the doorway of a ride and paused for them to see the entire amusement park the Doctor had spoken about.

"Ha, ha! You see?" the Doctor cheered. "I told you it was amazing. Well, it used to be."

"Boo," Elias sadly said as they all looked out to the abandoned park below them. He really wanted that ice cream.

"It did look kinda fun," Minerva remarked, not as disappointed as her son but still upset their trip had been practically cancelled.

"It closed down," the man sighed. "Wish I'd known that before I landed here. But let me show you my collection. Come along, follow me, this way. This way in, come on. Welcome to my show…"

With nothing else to do now, the group followed the man to wherever the 'show' was. They were led into a darkish room filled with wax replicas of alien races. Minerva couldn't help feel nervous of the room, and she held Elias closer to her in response. Elias didn't seem as nervous as his mother - he was awed by the statues!

"Webley's World of Wonders," the man declared. "Miracles, marvels and more await you. I am impresario Webley. You see before you waxwork representations of the famous... and the infamous. Anybody here play chess?" The Doctor raised his hand, eager to play when Webley pointed to Artie. "Perhaps you, young man?"

Artie nldded. "Actually, I'm in my school chess club."

The Doctor sighed as he lowered his hand, disappointed he wasn't chosen. Webley then led them into a different room just down a short hallway. The new room was for chess, with a chess table at the center. One of its chairs had a figure covered with a tattered drape.

"Now, let me demonstrate to you all the wonder of the age, the miracle of modernity. We defeated them all, a thousand years ago," Webley neared the table, going for the covered figure. "But now he's back, to destroy you. Behold! The enemy!"

The Doctor nearly felt his hearts stop at the sight of the Cyberman sitting on the chair. "Cyberman! Get down!" he pulled Minerva down with him, protectively blocking Elias from anything external.

While Clara didn't understand much, she too pulled the kids down. Webley stared at the alarmed group for a minute, confused. "No need to panic, my young friends. We all know there are no more living Cybermen. What you are seeing is a miracle - the 699th wonder of the universe. As displayed before the Imperial court, and only here to destroy you - at chess!"

The Doctor slowly rose to his feet, pulling Minerva with him. He eyed the Cyberman suspiciously, not about to let his guard down.

"Me! Me!" Elias held his little hands towards the chess table, as if to play himself. He hadn't yet met a Cyberman, and since it was dead he saw no point in being scared.

"Careful now," Webley playfully warned as the group slowly moved up to the table. "An empty shell. And yet it moves. How?"

Artie got closer to the Cyberman - much to the two alien's dismay - and tilted his head to study it. Angie, on the other hand, rolled her eyes at the entire event. "Magic," she sarcastically answered Webley.

Webley didn't take offense and chuckled. "That might well be, young lady. A single penny wins you five Imperial shillings if you can beat this empty shell at chess."

Artie sighed. "I haven't got a penny," but then he remembered what else he carried with him and pulled out a sandwich from his...pocket, "But I've got a sandwich."

Webley didn't look the least bit perturbed as he took the sandwich. "All right, take a seat." While Clara went to pull the chair out for Artie, Webley squatted in front of a panel on the table and opened it for the others to see. "It is free of all devices, and yet it has never been beaten. Would you like to make the first move, young man?"

Artie looked at the chess pieces for a second and made his move. The Cyberman jerkily moved one of his pawns then. Artie didn't think long before making his next move.

"Oh, no, Artie," the Doctor called out, "No, don't do that, it... It's a fool's mate."

Right after, the Cyberman checked mate the little boy. Webley stood by the side of the Cyberman, eating the sandwich given to him. "If you can tell me how it works, I'll give you a silver penny," he proposed.

"I think... you do it with mirrors?" Angie curiously asked.

"Hmm, mirrors, clever girl," the Doctor said after he got to examining the workings, "Although not as much as _my_ Clever Girl," he sent a wink towards Minerva who, in response, rolled her eyes playfully. "Well, let's see, hey? Low tech. It's a puppet, monofilament strings, which means the brains are in…" he accidentally popped open a panel and revealed a middle-aged, shorter man inside holding a remote man.

"Oh, I can definitely say I didn't see that one coming," Minerva blinked.

"Hello. I'm the brains," the new man waved, awkwardly shuffling out from his spot. "They call me Porridge. Ah, it's good to be out of that box."

Webley had moved to Angie and reached behind her ear. "For you, Miss…" he pulled a coin from her ear, "...an Imperial penny."

Surprised, Angie took the coin into her hand. Minerva and Clara joined her to see the coin, meanwhile the Doctor took to looking about the room. He became alarmed at the sight of a metal-looking bug crawling on an opposite wall.

That certainly didn't seem right.

~ 0 ~

A short time later, Webley led the group into a different room - it also consisted of wax replicas of different people/species. There were also, unfortunately, mroe of the lifeless Cyberman on display.

Webley walked up a draped-covered figure, pulling the drape off to reveal a Cyberman. "I have not one but THREE Cybermen in my collection."

The Doctor didn't waste a second in examining it with the sonic. He hadn't told Minerva of what he saw, figuring it was best to leave her thinking everything was fine until he had to tell her something. Plus, Elias looked pretty content with their environment and he didn't want to ruin that for his son.

Angie had caught site of a royal looking figure and walked up to it. "Is that the King?" she asked, studying the royal robes and ermine.

"Emperor," Porridge clarified, before clearing his throat. "Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, etc, etc, the 41st - defender of humanity, imperator of known space."

- _He looks a bit full of himself_ \- Ally remarked, startling Clara when the blonde appeared beside her. The small gasp Clara released wasn't heard by anyone, thankfully, or she would've been asked a ton of questions. Ally met Clara's confused face with a nervous smile. She knew what Clara was thinking - where the hell had she been - but Ally decided not to go through that. She just smiled and continued looking ahead to the others.

"If the kids want to ride the Spacey Zoomer, then I can operate the gravity console," Porridge then offered, instigating the very excited baby squeals from Elias.

"Me! Me! Me!" he flapped his small hands above his heads.

Minerva gave him a look. "Oh, in your tiny dreams, El."

"Me!" Elias continued on, even as the others started following Porridge out of the room. "Me!"

The Doctor came by and tickled his chin. "We'll get you on, El."

"Doctor, I am _not_ letting my baby float in midair!" Minerva promptly warned, daring him took contradict her.

Elias pouted with sad eyes, but the Doctor found a different way to make things work. Porridge activated the ride for them outside, and while the kids happily floated in the air the Doctor stood just on the side holding Elias in the air. Elias giggled as he was sometimes, for a brief second, allowed to float on his own.

"Don't let him go!" came the tenth warning from Minerva, who anxiously bit on her nails as she watched.

"Lighten up," Clara called from her spot, taking pictures of her kids with her phone.

"I can't!"

Elias clapped his hands, constantly squealing when he went up. The Doctor gave him another minute before pulling him out of the zone. He ruffled the baby's ginger hair and brought him to Minerva. She quickly nabbed her baby and held him tight, kissing his hair repeatedly.

 _'Mommy! Not in front of the cool kids!_ ' Elias looked up somewhat irritated as Minerva put him back in the papoose around her.

The Doctor snickered as Minerva frowned at the request. "You can always do that to me, you know," he flashed a smirk at her as he leaned forwards to kiss her lips.

Elias covered his eyes, making an 'yuck' sound come out from his mouth.

"I think that was the most fun I've had in my whole life," Artie declared when he and Angie had come down the ride.

"It was... OK," Angie tried her best to look indifferent.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Minerva promptly responded while the Doctor took an interest in scanning the area with the sonic.

"Clara?" Artie followed after the brunette who was already making way for the TARDIS. "I think outer space is actually very interesting."

"Right, wonderful day out," Clara smiled. "Minerva, Doctor, it's time to get the kids home."

Before Minerva could say a word, the Doctor piped up rather nervously. "Yeah. Um, no. Not actually ready to leave."

Minerva glanced his way, instantly seeing his face full of worry. Clara wasn't figuring it out yet.

"Why not?" she frowned.

"I dunno. Reasons."

"What reasons?"

"Insects. Funny insects. I should add them to my funny insect collection."

 _-He doesn't even collect funny insects_ \- Ally remarked suspiciously, leaning off against the TARDIS.

"How do you know?" Clara made the mistake of asking and looking her way.

"Who are you talking to?" Angie made a face, looking in the same direction Clara was but seeing nothing but the blue box.

"No one," Clara quickly turned back for them.

 _'Doctor, you best tell me what's going on right now,_ ' Minerva sent a sideways glance towards the Doctor.

' _I'll tell you when I figure it out,_ ' the Doctor mumbled.

~ 0 ~

Back in Webley's room, Angie and Artie were placed on couches for a rest while the aliens figured out what was going on.

"How long do we have to stay here?" Angie glumly asked, not so excited to stay in a weird room.

"Not long," the Doctor assured. "Have a nap. We'll wake you when we're ready to leave."

Minerva turned the lights of the room off and waited for the adults to leave with her.

"Sleep well," Clara tucked both of the kids in and walked out with Minerva and Porridge.

A couple minutes later, the Doctor poked his head into the room. He had his sonic under his face, purposely casting a creepy green glow with it. "Don't wander off. I'm not just saying, "Don't wander off" - I mean it! Otherwise you'll wander off, and the next thing you know, somebody's going to have to start rescuing somebody."

"From what?" Angie scowled.

Minerva returned and whacked the Doctor on the arm. "Nothing," she answered softly. "Please don't wander off. Sweet dreams." She then dragged the Doctor by the arm away from the room.

~ 0 ~

Some time later Porridge and Clara walked the disused tracks of the amusement park while Minerva and the Doctor continued to examine the area for the 'funny insects'.

"Was this really the biggest amusement park in the universe?" Clara, still in awe, looked around the old park.

"Yeah," Porridge nodded. "Hedgewick bought the planet cheap. It'd been trashed in the Cyber-Wars."

"Who were we fighting?"

"Cybermen. Technologically upgraded warriors. We couldn't win. Sometimes we fought to a draw, but then they'd upgrade themselves, fix their weaknesses and destroy us. It's hard to fight an enemy that uses your armies as spare parts."

- _That's a creepy fight-_ Ally made a face. She stood in front of an old cotton candy stand, peering inside.

"You beat them, though," Clara remarked, silently agreeing with her friend, "...or you wouldn't be here. How?"

Porridge stopped them at the edge of the hangar where he pointed to the sky. "Look up there - that corner of the sky. What do you see?"

Clara looked up and frowned at the pitch dark sky. "Nothing. It's just black. No stars, no nothing."

- _That can't be good_ \- Ally plopped herself over the counter of the cotton candy stand.

"Used to be the Tiberion Spiral Galaxy. A million star systems. A hundred million worlds. A billion trillion people. It's not there anymore. No more Tiberion galaxy. No more Cybermen. It was effective."

- _Ah, I was right_ \- Ally sighed unsurprisingly.

"It's horrible," Clara gaped.

"Yeah. I feel like a monster sometimes," Porridge admitted with a sigh.

"Why?"

"Because instead of mourning a billion trillion dead people, I just feel sorry for the poor blighter who had to press the button and blow it all up."

Ally's eyes lowered for a bit before glancing at the Doctor. Suddenly, the Time Lord whirled around.

"Clara! Did you tell Angie she could go to the barracks?"

Clara sighed and looked at him. "You _know_ I didn't. She hasn't…"

"She's just gone in there," the Doctor pointed back.

"How we did not see that coming I don't know," Minerva rolled her eyes.

~ 0 ~

Angie had left her brother behind to stumble across the platoon's base. For some reason, they wanted to know about Porridge, and seeing nothing out of the ordinary she answered truthfully. But she was disappointed to be discovered by Clara and the others.

"Angie, Angie!" Clara ran straight for the girl.

"She has to turn up and spoil everything!" Angie rolled her eyes, lowering the mug she held in her hands. "I wasn't doing anything! Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

The crash causing the doors to burst open made everyone turn to face a Cyberman standing there.

"Cyberman!" the Captain gasped.

The Doctor stepped in front of Minerva and scanned the Cyberman with his sonic. The other soldiers scrambled to retrieve the nearest weapons around.

"Attack formation!" the Cyberman suddenly moved with incredible speed.

The Captain saw one of her soldiers foolishly trying to combat it with just his hands. "No!"

The Doctor wasted no moment and pulled Minerva and Elias to cover. Clara did the same but she frantically looked around for Angie.

"Attack formation - quickly!" the Captain ordered as she was handed a gun. They fired at the Cyberman but the bullets merely tapped its metal chest.

"Upgrade in progress!"

The Doctor popped up and tried using his sonic against the Cyberman, but also failed.

"Angie!" Clara shouted for the girl, seeing her too far.

The Cyberman moved at lightning speed and snatched Angie from the floor. The girl screamed as she was taken away.

"Angie!" Clara left her cover spot to run after.

- _No, Clara!_ \- called Ally, forcing Clara to stop. - _They're gone!_ -

"That was a Cyberman!" the Captain looked at the rest, as if she was questioning what she saw. "But they're extinct."

Clara was in near tears when Minerva walked up to her. "We'll get her back, Clara, we promise."

The Doctor had moved to the Captain in the meantime. "Captain, a word, please. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I take it your platoon doesn't do much fighting?"

The Captain rolled her eyes. "What do you expect? We're a punishment platoon. It's why they sent us out here, so we can't get into trouble."

"Well, that's just great," Minerva turned and joined them with Clara.

"Ah, right, right, well, OK. As Imperial Consul," the Doctor took the Captain's badge off her uniform and pinned it on Minerva, "I am putting Minerva in charge."

"No!" Elias tried pulling on the pin despite it being stuck to Minerva's blouse. "Me! Me!"

"You are mad if you think you're going out to do this alone," Minerva forewarned the Doctor, making move to follow when the Doctor raised a hand to stop her.

"Someone's got to commandeer the troops out here," he pointed out. "Queen's got a job to do."

"Yeah, except-"

"Plus, you can't leave Elias with them - er, no offence Clara-"

"None taken," Clara crossed her arms, very much alright not being tasked to look after the alien baby. He didn't like her still, and quite frankly she was getting over it.

"And we don't want to bring Elias headstraight into Cyberman mess, do we?"

"It can't be worse than bringing him to an army," Minerva frowned. "Everywhere's unsafe, but it's just a little less if I'm with you, and he's with both of us."

The Doctor was touched by her words, but the indecision was severe. He swayed his head, desperately trying to calculate which side would have less risks for her and Elias.

"Yeah, we're coming," Minerva made it clear and simple for him. She pulled off the badge and, much to Elias' disappointment, handed it to Clara.

"No! No!" he wailed, his small hands flapping for the pin. "Mommy, me! Me!"

"Hush," Minerva patted him on the head and walked up to the Doctor, lacing her fingers with his. "Ready when you are, dear."

"But I-I'm not," Clara waved a hand up high in the air.

"Of course you are," Minerva glanced back at her. "We can't always be there for you, Clara. Tragic but true. And really, all you have to do is keep anyone from blowing up this planet."

- _She's good with advice_ \- Ally sighed from beside Clara. - _Don't worry, though, I can help you-_

The comfort only mildly worked for Clara as she watched the two aliens walk away.

~ 0 ~

The two aliens returned to the room where Clara's kids were supposed to be in, but of course that wasn't happening. Artie was gone too.

"You would think he would've listened," Minerva sighed as she searched for the missing child.

"No one listens," the Doctor shot her a smirk across the room, "Haven't you learned?"

Minerva rolled her eyes and continued to go in search of the boy. The Doctor noticed the same metal bug from earlier crossing a table. He rushed over, making Minerva whirl around at the noise.

"What's…?" she slowly began making way there.

The Doctor inspected the bug and leaned closer. "Firstly, if anybody's watching this, those children are under our protection. We're coming to get them. And secondly... little metal machine... you are beautiful."

"No," Elias scrunched his tiny nose in disgust. Bugs were nasty and he didn't know why his Daddy was enthralled with them. His Mommy didn't like them either.

The Doctor had picked up the motionless bug and kept in his palm. He ignored both Minerva's and Elias' disgusted faces and walked for the connected room. It turned out to be the chess room.

"Uh, where's the Cyberman?" Minerva asked nervously. The Cyberman that Artie had played chess with was no longer in his spot at the chess table.

The Doctor focused on the Cybermite on his palm, sonicking it. "Now... there's a local transmat link open to your home. If I can just find the frequency…" he raised the sonic and disappeared on the spot, leaving Minerva wide eyed behind.

Even Elias haD gasped seeing his father gone.

"I...am going to kill that Martian," Minerva announced, provoking her son to giggle. Nothing else to do, she walked out of the room, intending on rejoining Clara and the others. She knew somehow her husband would reappear.

~ 0 ~

Clara had chosen the Castle of the amusement park as their best option for defence. She was most certainly surprised to find Minerva returning - the Monsoon Queen was calmly walking towards them...without the Doctor nor the kids.

- _This can't be good_ \- Ally pursed her lips together, Clara doing the same seconds after.

"Where's the Doctor?" Clara blinked.

"Oh, disappeared somewhere," Minerva shrugged, answering vaguely as she observed the weapon boxes brought with the soldiers.

"And the kids?"

"Probably where the Doctor disappeared to."

"Why are you you here? No offence."

Minerva sighed, eyes landing back on petite Clara. "Because clearly he disappeared without me. Look, it's not the first time he does it. So, let's just focus on this area right now." She walked past Clara and the others, eyes examining every last detail. "Drawbridge, moat - brilliant. I like this tactic."

"With respect, ma'am," a man, Brains, stepped forwards, "we ought to be hunting the creature."

"No," Minerva glanced back, her hand distractedly toggling with Elias to keep him entertained. "Trust me, your weapons are no good against Cybermen. Clara, do you mind if I take over?"

"Go right ahead," Clara gestured, making her smile.

"Don't think I'm retracting my words from earlier. The Doctor and I can't always be there for you."

"Yeah!" Elias exclaimed, having no clue what his mother was saying, but seeing Clara's disappointed face made it look like fun. Clara sent him a mock glare but said nothing to Minerva.

"Come along now, Oswald," Minerva laughed suddenly. "Oh, it's not the same."

"What's not?" Clara followed after, confused yet curious at the same time.

"Nothing, don't worry about it," Minerva smiled at her.

They crossed the drawbridge into the castle without a problem. Minerva set station points for the soldiers to guard, placing herself and Clara on supervision jobs at the courtyard. While Minerva said nothing, she was beginning to grow worried over the Doctor's disappearance. She tried calling out to him telepathically but received no answer back. It was like the Doctor was shutting her out completely, and that was never for a good reason.

Some time later, one of the soldiers, Brains, reappeared wearing a grim look. "Erm, ma'am, Missy said she saw something, and then she went quiet…"

"Well, that can only mean one thing," Minerva then shared his grimness and turned for and wooden staircase. She found Porridge and the Captain along with some other soldiers, all handling peculiar weapons.

"What are these?" she pointed at the ones on the ground neatly spread out.

"Cybermen have been extinct for 1,000 years. Even one Anti-Cyber Gun is a miracle," the Captain said, looking condescending for Minerva's lack of knowledge. "These things are hand-pulsars." She picked one up and slipped it over her hand like neat glove. "Touch the back of a Cyberman's head, the electromagnetic pulse deactivates it."

"Impressive," Minerva beamed then looked over to another weapon, her smiles fading. "Just a mad guess here - this blows up the planet?"

"Implodes it. There's also a trigger unit."

Minerva snatched the cylindrical-shaped trigger with a fake smile. "I'll handle that. Is there any other way to activate the bomb?"

"It's set to respond to my voice. I have the verbal code."

Minerva disliked the tone being used against her like that. With fake politeness she responded. "You will not activate it without a direct order from me. And that is highly unlikely so start thinking of other strategical plans."

The Captain stepped forwards, facing off Minerva. "I will follow my orders."

Minerva gave the slightest of smiles. "Your orders come from _me_ , Captain. Don't you forget that."

Elias knew when his Mommy was mad, and that moment was now. His small hands flung to cover his eyes.

Brains cleared his throat as he waved a clipboard at Minerva. "You'll need to sign for that trigger unit, ma'am."

Minerva reverted to her kind demeanor as she addressed the man. "Of course." She took the clipboard and signed her name.

Porridge picked up a hand pulsar. "Mind if I take one of these? Might be handy."

"Sure anything to protect," Minerva looked around, ignoring the annoyed looks of the Captain. "Has anyone seen my petite companion?"

"Think I saw her downstairs," Brains replied, pointing a finger down.

"I think I'll go find her then," Minerva resolved. It was better to keep Clara close by for anything.

~ 0 ~

"This is just odd," Clara remarked as she placed her arms over the banister of a balcony overlooking the park.

Ally appeared beside her, arms crossed. - _You've been traveling for months now and this is what strikes you as odd?_ -

Clara rolled her eyes. "It's a different view on things, that's all."

"I assume you're talking with 'Ally'?" Minerva's voice called from across the open corridor, eyes training on the spot where indeed Ally was.

Clara noticed her imaginary friend fidgeting but didn't question it. There were many strange things with her friend lately but right now certainly wasn't the moment to delve into that pathway. "Where are the others?" she looked past Minerva but saw no one. "Do you think it's best to leave them on their own right now? ...when they want to blow us all up?"

"They won't," Minerva assured, coming to a stop and looking down at Elias. With the lack of action, the baby was beginning to droop. His head was slightly tilted, his eyes languidly blinking towards the view.

"I just don't get it," Clara began, crossing her arms. "Why would you blow up a whole planet, and everybody on it, just to get rid of one Cyberman?"

"I'm sure they've tried other ways to get rid of them," Minerva said, giving the Captain the benefit of the doubt. "But, I'm also sure those other ways were ineffective at times, only leaving drastic action." Clara knew by those words Minerva was talking about the Doctor's past war. "Unfortunately, those drastic actions usually work."

"But still…" Clara said weakly, preferring not to give so much of her opinions. She didn't know much of alien wars, hell she barely knew wars of her own planet.

"That Captain," Minerva nodded back, "is probably here because she failed to do those drastic actions. It's the only possible reason. Which makes her more dangerous."

"Why?"

Ally reappeared beside Minerva, looking just as serious as the Moon Queen. - _Because it makes her even more willing to go farther and 'correct things_ '-

Clara blinked, but wasn't able to remark when they heard a loud scream from the courtyard. Elias jerked awake as Minerva whirled around and rushed back. There had been a Cyberman outside that shot the Captain dead.

"EVERYONE ON GUARD!" Minerva ordered almost as loud as the Captain's scream.

She gathered the soldiers and led them through the castle corridors, everyone on high alert.

"The Doctor said to get somewhere easily defensible," Clara reminded Minerva who was just in front of her. "But if we stay in the castle, it'll pick us off one by one. We have to take it out."

"I know," Minerva bit her lip anxiously. Cybermen were cruel creatures and she didn't want to deliberately put them in danger.

"We can do it," Clara said as if reading her mind from the back.

"Pulse to the back of the head," Brains spoke up. "Fry the brain circuit interface."

"But it's not gonna be easy to get in close enough," Minerva sighed, looking down at the now heavily alert Elias. She especially didn't want to put her son in danger. The Doctor was off who knows where probably fighting off his own share of Cybermen. She was left behind, in charge of humans and their son.

Ally flashed beside Clara, immediately walking the same speed as Clara. - _She doesn't want to put the baby in danger_ \- she told Clara. - _Even if she leaves the baby behind her mind won't be in it completely. That can cost her big time_ -

Clara knew her friend was right. "I've got an idea," she announced, forcing Minerva to stop.

~ 0 ~

A Cyberman was attacking two of the soldiers when he spotted a third, Ha-Ha, and went in for him.

As it approached him, another soldier, Ha-Ha, tried to talk in a casual tone to it. "I've heard about the Cybermen since I was in my cradle. I'm not afraid of you!"

"Now!" Clara suddenly ordered behind and Ha-Ha jumped out of the way to reveal the brunette with the pulse rifle. She fired and instantly disintegrated the Cyberman.

"Good job, Clara!" Minerva came to meet her, ecstatic no harm had been done to her. Even Elias was clapping in joy, something Clara beamed at. Every little point counted!

"What's happening…?" they heard Ha-Ha and saw him staring at the other two soldiers the Cyberman had been attacking.

Minerva walked a little forwards to get a better look and saw them wearing silver, cyber-implants on their left ears. Her eyes narrowed, she didn't need to know their purpose to know they were Cybermen devices. "They must be controlling them," she concluded when the stances of the soldiers turned against them.

"A pulse will deactivate them," Ha-Ha said, watching as two more soldiers came from either side and used the pulsars on their controlled companions to knock them out. "And anyway... it's a waste of charge. We may need it again."

"You don't think that was the only one, then?" Clara sighed.

Ally appeared with a shake of her head. - _C'mon, Clara, you know better than that_ -

Clara agreed with a resigned nod and followed after Minerva back to the castle. However, near the entrance they heard commotion, followed by a very familiar voice pleading not to be shot.

"Daddy!" Elias squealed happily when they stepped out to see the Doctor holding a chessboard in his arms, surrounded by soldiers.

"Where the hell have you been!?" Minerva angrily demanded from him, striding up to him.

"Bit busy, but don't worry everything is under control!" the Doctor exclaimed, but Minerva wasn't so sure when she noticed the same silver cyber device streaking on one side of his face.

"Did you get the kids!?" Clara came running towards them."Are they alright!? What's going on!?"

"Bit of a good news/bad news/good news again thing going on. So... Good news - I've kidnapped their Cyber-Planner, and right now I'm sort of in control of this Cyberman."

"Bad news?" Minerva raised her eyebrows, already assuming she wasn't going to like any of what was going to come out of his mouth next.

"Bad news - the Cyber-Planner's in my head. And different bad news - the kids are... Well, it's complicated."

Minerva and Clara looked at each other a minute before uttering together, "Complicated _how_?"

"Uh oh!" Elias foresaw the trouble and covered his eyes again.

"Complicated, as in walking coma," the Doctor dashed away to hide behind the children, Artie and Angie, who were also being controlled by the Cybermen.

Clara gaped and rushed forwards while Minerva stayed in place. "N-n-n-n-no," she put her hands on Artie then moved onto Angie, trying to shake them awake. "Please tell me you can wake them up."

"Hope so," the Doctor replied in a sing-song manner.

"Dare I ask the other good news?" Minerva had a stare on him that made him tremble.

"Well, in other good news, there are a few more repaired and reactivated Cybermen on the way. And the Cyber-Planner's installing a patch for the gold thing. No, wait, that isn't not good news, is it? Um, so... Good news –" he held the chessboard over his head, "I have a very good chance of winning my chess match. In a bit of a hurry," he hurried up the drawbridge, "Get me to a table. And somebody tie me up! Need hands free for chess. And immobilise me. Quickly."

With a deep sigh, Minerva went after her husband. They came into the throne room where the Doctor swiped away all that was on a wooden table to place down the chess board. With the help of Clara, Minerva tied him to the chair and left his hands free as requested. Meanwhile, Webley, Angie and Artie had positioned themselves across the room, standing blankly.

"So let me get the straight here," Clara asked as Minerva backed away from the table, "you're playing chess with yourself?"

"And winning," the Doctor reminded sharply. Suddenly, his hand jerked up and pulled off the golden ticket on his face. The next time he spoke his voice was a new dark one, a smug one that definitely wasn't the playful smugness he usually had on. "Actually, he has no better than a 25% chance of winning at this stage in the game. Some very dodgy moves at the beginning. Hello, flesh-girl. Fantastic! I'm the Cyber-Planner."

"Get the hell out of my husband's head," Minerva scowled and came forwards, pulling Clara back at the same time.

"I'm working the mouth now," the 'CyberDoctor' smirked back at her. "Allons-y! Oh, you should see the state of these neurons - he's had some cowboys in here. Ten complete re-jigs."

"None of which are _your_ memories to see so get out!"

"Oh back down Moonie," snapped the man, startling her. "You and your Impossible Duo are all this silly alien can think about. Honestly, you should be a bit jealous."

"Impossible Due?" Clara repeated, head turning towards Minerva who visibly looked shaken by the fact. "What's that mean?"

"Haven't they told you?" the CyberDoctor taunted. "Sly devils you are. Oh, dear me. Soon, we wake, we'll strip you down for spare parts, then build a spaceship and move on."

"Go! Go!" Elias flapped his hands at the Doctor, meaning for the Cyber-Planner to get out of his father's head.

"More Cybermen?" Minerva jumped on the change of subjects.

"They're waking from their tomb right now. You can either die or live on as one of us."

"I'm going for option 'C' where we defeat you and we go home," Minerva smiled widely at him instead.

- _Clara_ \- Ally appeared behind the Doctor's chair. Clara looked at her friend who was pointing at the Doctor's twitching hand that soon began writing out of its own accord. Clara read the words 'hit me' over a yellow notepad. She glanced at Minerva who was still busy arguing with the CyberDoctor to notice anything, so without further ado, she slapped him herself.

"Clara!" Minerva flinched.

"Boo!" Elias frowned at the woman, leaning forwards to try and retaliate himself with small fists. Why would she hit his Daddy?

"Owwww! Ow! Oh, that hurt!" the Doctor, using his usual voice, hissed. "No, stop! Enough! Bit of pain, neural surge - just what I needed. Thanks."

"That was planned?" Minerva blinked, looking at Clara. "How?"

- _Don't say my name_ \- Ally warned so serious that Clara obeyed out of pure surprise.

"Doctor, what exactly are the stakes for this game?" Minerva asked dreadfully.

"If he wins, I give up my mind and he gets access to all my memories, along with knowledge of time travel. But if I win, he'll break his promises to get out of my head and then kill us anyway."

"That's not reassuring," Clara frowned.

"No."

"Please tell me you can fix what happened to the children."

"Children. Yeah. They're fine. I mean, right now their brains are just in stand-by mode."

"That is not fine!"

"Listen, right now, they have a better chance of getting out of this situation alive than you do."

"Which one of you just said that?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, the change in voices not clear enough for a deduction of her own.

"Me. Cyber-Planner," he smirked. "Mr Clever. Now, if you don't mind, I have a chess game to finish. And you have to die - pointlessly and very far from home. Toodle-oo."

"I'll be glad to see you dead," spat Minerva who then strode out of the room. "My husband will take care of you!"

~ 0 ~

"Alright," Minerva walked down the corridor with Clara, Porridge and Brains, "so there are more Cyberman coming for us. We can't take them down one by one so we need a better strategy."

"What's that cable?" Clara suddenly asked, causing the group to stop and look.

"Power line for the park," Porridge replied.

Clara's eyes went wide with a visible eyes. "What'd happen if we dropped the end into the moat and turned it on?"

"You're good at this," Minerva remarked thoughtfully. "I'm trying to decide if this is good or bad."

Clara playfully rolled her eyes. "Let's just do it!"

"Agreed, ma'am," Minerva did a mock salute before heading out again.

On Clara's orders, they lowered the cable into the water and turned on the power. The bursting power crackled loudly and made the soldiers hurry back into the castle to raise the drawbridge. They set up a line of defence afterwards, knowing there would still be some type of attack even through the first defence. After sometime, they heard the Doctor calling for Minerva.

Minerva reluctantly re-entered the room without Elias this time. He was being carried, against his own will, by Clara with the papoose. "You called...dear?"  
"Minerva!" the Doctor greeted. "Now, quick rundown. What's our weapons strength?"

"Well, there one large gun, five hand pulsar unites and, of course, the bomb that implodes the planet," Minerva crossed her arms, purposely remaining in the middle of the room. She wasn't quite sure who she was speaking to yet.

"Yeah, yeah, that one. Now, tell me, does it happen, possibly, to have a remote triggery thing?"

"Of course…" Minerva pulled out said trigger remote and waved it.

"Brilliant, pass it on!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I thought it would be clear to keep away anything that implodes planets away from your hands right now."

"Oh, don't worry," the Doctor smiled widely, tapping his temple. "The Cyber-Planner's hibernating between moves right now. Sssh."

"Oh yeah? Then prove you're you," Minerva challenged, coming towards him then. "Tell me only something my Doctor knows."

Unbeknownst to either of them, Ally had appeared in the room. She was making rounds on the Doctor's table, examining him with intent eyes.

"Minerva, my dear Minerva, are we really going to do this?" the Doctor asked, whether his indignation was real or fake Minerva did not know.

"Of course we are," Minerva shrugged, keeping a good distance from the table. "I'm not an idiot, CyberDoctor, if you're that guy right now there is no way in hell that I am giving you anything."

"But I already told you," the Doctor said with a small sigh. "He hibernates during each of my turns. He's tucked away - OW!"

His head jerked forwards as if someone had hit him from behind.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Yes! It's me!" the real Doctor cried out. "That really hurt! How did you know that was him?!"

"I didn't even hit you," Minerva gestured to her current location, making the Doctor frantically look around for the source of his hitter. Neither saw Ally standing a couple inches from the Doctor's chair. Minerva hurried up to the table and sighed. "Just forget it, alright? How's it-"

The Doctor seized her hand that was holding the trigger remote.

"Doctor, let go of me," Minerva tugged her hand but it was of no use.

"I can't!" the Doctor exclaimed, visibly panicking. "He's got control of the left arm." Using his other arm, he tried detaching his out-of-control arm from Minerva's wrist. "Aaargh! Aaaargh! No! No!" the CyberDoctor took the trigger remote and smashed it into pieces. "Aaargh! Aaargh! Aaargh!

"Doctor," Minerva trembling at the smashed pieces. "I'm so...I'm so sorry…"

The Doctor was staring at the pieces as well. "He got what he wanted. He destroyed the trigger. My move."

"What do you mean, he got what he wanted?"

"He means... good news, boys and girls!" he raised his deranged look on her, immediately notifying this was no longer the Doctor as he screamed. "THEY'RE HEERE!"

"Elias!" Minerva's mind immediately went towards her son and hurried out of the room.

~ 0 ~

Clara was watching from a hiding spot all the Cyberman heading for them, and shakily exhaled as she lost count of them all. She turned away to the others. "One gun, five hand pulsars and a-"

"A planet-smashing bomb that doesn't work anymore," Minerva finished for her as she caught up with them. She went straight for Clara and removed the pappoose from her, strapping it on to herself. She planted a big kiss on Elias' ginger hair.

"Why not?" Clara asked.

"Because the Doctor, or CyberDoctor, just smashed it into a dozen pieces."

"But you signed for that," Brains frowned.

"Yes, yes, I'll pay for it later," Minerva shook her head and went to see how their plan was going. One Cyberman had stepped into the water and electrified.

"Brilliant," Clara said when she saw the event.

But the moment only lasted so much. The Cyberman straightened up, uttering 'Upgrade in progress' and continuing to march forwards as if nothing had happened.

"Who's our best shot?" Minerva sharply inquired seeing the first plan was going to fail.

"Probably it's me," Ha-Ha raised a reluctant hand. Brains handed him the gun.

"I need you to shoot any of them who make it across," Minerva instructed him. "And the rest of you, take defensive positions. Porridge?"

"Yes?"

"Keep yourself and…" Minerva sighed, mustering all her will to remove the papoose off her and hand it, along with Elias, to him, "...my son, _please_."

"No…" Elias began to fidget in the new arms he was.

"Yes," Minerva gave him a warning look to stay quiet. She looked at Porridge then, silently pleading him to follow her instruction. With a nod, Porridge gripped the baby and hurried away. With a deep, shaky breath, Minerva straightened and turned to the others. "Right then, we've got jobs to do."

Taking up their own guns, they headed to shoot down any Cybermans they could before they were at a loss. They split up into teams, Ha-Ha with a soldier going as 'Beauty' and then Brains, Clara and Minerva. Cybermen busted through the main gate and scoured the corridors of the castle. While some of them were successfully blasted by the pulsars, others were still going strong.

And then they began upgrading.

As a last resort, Clara picked up a mace and used it.

"That won't work!" Minerva was trying to use her own powers, momentarily freezing Cybermen to their spots before they stomped the ice and continued moving.

Eventually, they were backed towards a wall.

"Please stand by - you will be upgraded. Welcome to the Cyberiad." The Cybermen reached towards them, ready to do as it said. "You will be upgraded. Welcome to the Cyberiad. You will be upgraded... You will be upgraded…"

But then they froze.

Minerva cracked open one eye and, albeit unsure of what was happening, went around them and motioned the others to do the same. "MOVE!" she yelled at the remaining soldiers and broke into a fervent run away.

They didn't dare stop until they reached the throne room. There, the Doctor was fidgeting in his chair, no more with Cybernetics on his face.

"Doctor!" Minerva breathed a sigh of relief, and then an even bigger one when she saw Elias with Porridge. "What happened to the Cyber-Planner?"

"Out of my head and redistributed across three million Cybermen. About to wake them up, kill us and start constructing a spaceship," the Doctor shot up from his chair as soon as he was untied and snatched the bomb which Porridge had brought in earlier. "We need to destroy this planet before they can get off it. OK." He used the sonic to look through its controls and beamed. "It has a fallback voice activation."

"The Captain. But she's dead," Ha-Ha reminded.

"I think you should ask Porridge," the newly-wakened Angie pointed a thumb at Porridge.

"Why?"

"Well, he is the Emperor. I bet _he_ knows the activation codes."

Porridge was now the center of attention.

"Oh, come on, it's obvious," Angie shook her head. "He looks exactly like he does on the coin and on the waxwork, except they made him a bit taller, but... Look, am I the only one paying attention to anything around here?"

"Impressed," Minerva remarked at the girl before looking over at Porridge. "Well?"

"She's right," the man sighed.

"So you can save us?" Clara asked, hopeful.

"We all die in the end. Does it matter how?"

"What do we do?"

"I don't want to be Emperor," Porridge said. "If I activate that bomb, it's all over."

"And if you don't, three million Cybermen will spread across the galaxy. Isn't that worth dying for?" the Doctor asked.

"Doctor…"

"Three million Cybermen!"

"The bomb, the throne, it's all connected. I just have to say, "This is Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, called Longstaff the 41st, the defender of humanity, imperator of known space. Activate the Desolator." And in saying it, the bomb activated. "And it's done. It'll blow in about 80 seconds. Easily long enough for the Imperial Flagship to locate me from my identification, warp-jump into orbit, and transmat us to the State Room."

On command, the group was transported into a high-tech spaceship. Porridge stood on a multi-level dais while the others landed on the floor.

"Oh, nice ship," commented Minerva as she got up and checked Elias who was more than awed by the new environment before him.

"Bit big," the Doctor added. "Not blue enough." He got up and went for Porridge. "Listen, there is a large blue box at co-ordinates six ultra 19P. I need it transmatted up here right away."

"Right," Porridge turned to one of the tech, "Did you get that?" the tech nodded and went to do the task.

In the meantime, the others gathered around the large window overlooking the planet where the bomb had been left behind, activated and counting down. The planet exploded into pieces, leaving nothing behind.

"Fairwell, Cyberiad," Porridge sighed. "You know... it was good to get away. Good to be a person and not to be lonely or Emperor of 1,000 galaxies, with everybody waiting for me to tell them what to do."

"Get the feeling," Minerva smiled slyly, "Though I'm nowhere near Queen of a thousand galaxies. One planet's enough."

"Can't you run away?" Artie asked curiously.

"They'll be keeping a close eye on me this time. That's what happens when you're Emperor - loneliest job in the Universe."

"You don't have to be lonely," Clara walked over.

"I don't," agreed Porridge who suddenly got on one knee. "Clara... will you marry me?"

"What?" Clara gaped, her mouth falling open.

"You're smart and you're beautiful, and I've never met anyone like you before. And being Emperor won't be as hard if you're by my side. And you'd rule 1,000 galaxies."

"I take back what I said about the one planet thing," Minerva mumbled and quickly earned herself a mock-glare from the Doctor.

"Bad," Elias poked Minerva's arm, also frowning at her comment.

Minerva smiled and kissed his head. "Mommy's just joking...ish." The Doctor gave a loud, purposely, clear of throat at her.

- _Clara, this is an actual marriage proposal_ \- Ally was also gaping beside Clara. - _If you want some advice-_ "

"Hush," Clara said, and quickly looked at the waiting Emperor. "Porridge, I...don't want to rule 1,000 galaxies."

"Yeah. Silly of me," Porridge sighed and got back up.

"I'm really sorry."

"But that's stupid," Angie spoke up. "You could be queen of the universe. How can you say no to that? When someone asks you if you want to be queen of the universe, you say, "Yes." You watch. One day, _I'll_ be queen of the universe."

"Of course," Porridge looked around, "I could have you all executed - which is what a proper Emperor would do."

"Do that and you'll have war," Minerva playfully warned him.

"Ah," Porridge chucked. "Go on, get out of here, all of you, before I change my mind."

With the retrieved TARDIS, the group hurried away. In no less than a minute they were back on Earth, just outside Clara's home.

"Thank you for having me," Artie shook the Doctor's hand first then Minerva's. "It was very interesting." Elias fussed and fussed in Minerva's arms, one of his hands wiggling towards Artie's. The older boy smiled and shook Elias' hands. "Very nice to meet you too."

"What a proper boy," Minerva smiled then looked over to Angie. "Come here, Miss," she motioned and the girl stepped forwards. "Now, I was never big on cellphones when I was a human," - Angie gave her an odd look - "but I think this one might be okay."

Angie beamed at the new cellphone presented to her. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome," Minerva patted her arm. "Now please, try to be a lighter on Clara. She's not your mom, I get it, but she _is_ trying to help you alright?"

Angie nodded. "Sorry I said this box was stupid." She shook Minerva's hand then the Doctor's. "Bye!"

"Thanks, Clara. Thanks, Clara's friends!" Artie waved again before heading out with his sister.

"Thank you," Clara said to both aliens after the kids were gone.

"For what?" the Doctor asked.

"Probably for not blowing her up," Minerva side-remarked with a smirk.

Clara nodded. "Good night. See you next Wednesday."

"Well... a Wednesday, definitely," the Doctor began his rambles, and so Clara started leaving. "Next Wednesday, last Wednesday...one of the Wednesdays. Impossible girl."

"Impossible Duo," Minerva corrected him, both sharing an earnest look. "Clara Oswald and 'Ally' are an enigma that we need to figure out soon. It's beginning to drive me mad."

The Doctor shared a smile with her. It was driving him mad too!

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

So...close...to the end :o. 3 chapters left, can you believe it!? And just a reminder that I _am_ currently speeding up this story's update days till the end in case there was any confusion on why I update twice in one week.

 _ **For the review:**_

Well since the revelation is next episode I will not say a word on who Ally is *zips lips up* ;). I actually just went over the Day of the Doctor chapter to give it another editing and I laughed at what I wrote. It's funny, it's emotional, it's sweet - I can't wait for you guys to read it! Oh my God 12 is coming ain't he? I'm sad cos from where I stand I'm writing the hybrid arc so you know it's bye bye 12 travelling with Clara *tears*. Nardole? Well my understanding was that he was dead but 12 put him back together? Maybe that changed his personality a little? I don't know. Well, 12 didn't actually know Bill's mother. He went back in time to take pictures of the woman as a Christmas present for Bill (without Bill knowing it was from him). And Bill just imagines a version of her mother to talk to her like any child would want to! Knock-Knock? That episode was scary! I made the mistake of watching it at night and I got so freaking scared xD. You gotta watch it!

* * *

So next chapter we finally get the mystery of Ally and Clara resolved! It'll be here in a couple of days! Until then!


	15. My Sister's Keeper

_People always wonder what happens when you die. Where do you go afterwards? Is there an afterlife? Or...are you just...dead? Heaven and hell are two complex concepts, but whether they're real or not I would not know. Because where I am...is neither nor._

 _Where I am is completely different._

 _There is no color but a dull gray that looks like smoke._

 _There is no gates in which you cross like heaven is visualized._

 _There are no flames like hell is said to have._

 _There is nothing._

 _Nothing...but me._

 _There is an escape - a momentary escape I have found to be bittersweet. And while it causes me great pain in the end, I cannot seem to stop._

~ 0 ~

 **Leadworth, 1994.**

A bright ginger-haired girl sat outside her backyard with a tea set in front of her. The sunny day allowed for a perfect afternoon to play.

"And here you are, Mrs. Norris," the ginger girl spoke in a Scottish accent and poured air-tea into a pink, plastic tea cup. She moved onto the next cup, and the next cup, stopping only when she heard the giggles of a couple girls walking with their mothers along in the sidewalk behind the gates of her garden. The girl stared for a long time, saying nothing to her dolls set around her, not attempting to call out the other girls on the street.

- _Don't be sad_ \- a sudden voice told her. Startled, the ginger girl turned back to her tea set. - _I'll play with you, Amelia_ -

"Who are you?" Amelia Pond tilted her head, her curious green eyes studying the woman she knew hadn't been there a moment ago.

Her long, blonde hair fell over her shoulders and her thin, pink lips smiled gracefully. - _I'm your imaginary friend. Call me whatever you want. But I am here to stay and play with yo_ u- Amelia watched the blonde pick up a yellow tea cup and held it out. - _May I have some tea please?_ -

A quirky smile spread across Amelia's face as she nodded. "Okay!" She grabbed her teapot and poured 'tea' into the cup for her new friend.

~ 0 ~

 _There is no one but me here, and every time I think that I will never return to this solitary place...time proves me wrong._

~ 0 ~

An eight year old Amelia ran throughout her room holding a makeshift wooden doll of the Doctor. She laughed as her other friend, Mel, went behind her with a second doll, that of a princess with a flowey gray dress but no crown.

The same blonde imaginary friend stood at the corner of the room with tears in her eyes. "Amelia?" she called out, but Amelia made no acknowledgement of her presence. "Amelia, please!"

"C'mon, Amelia!" Mel had jumped onto the bed. Amelia laughed and did the same, the two girls proceeding to jump on it.

- _Amelia Jessica Pond, please listen!_ -

Amelia hopped off the bed and ran for the toy-sized TARDIS on her desk.

- _Amelia_ …- the blonde's voice broke, - _ **See** me_ …-

Amelia returned to the bed and plopped down with the mini-TARDIS. Mel let herself fall and sat beside her, exchanging dolls with Amelia.

The blonde sniffed and turned to the window. - _It was too early_ \- She glanced back one last time to see Amelia, who could not see her nor hear anymore. 'Tabitha' then walked through the window, fading away.

~ 0 ~

 **London 1992.**

A small brunette child panted as she ran through a bustling carnival, her big, dark eyes looking from one person to the next. There were so many people but none was the one she was looking for.

"Mummy!?" she called over and over again. "Mummy! Mummy!" when no one would answer, she continued to run. She stopped once more by an empty cotton candy stand and looked around for her mother. "Mummy?" her voice cracked and her eyes began to fill with tears.

She had lost her mother somewhere and she couldn't find her. Would she _ever_ find her Mummy again?

"Mummy?" she called once more and sniffled. She moved around the stand and took a seat on the ground, back against the stand. She just couldn't find her Mummy anymore and she probably wouldn't. She was _lost_ and very alone. Like any six year old child, she began to cry.

After a couple minutes, she spotted a young blonde woman coming towards her. Scared of the stranger, the girl began to push herself up. But the blonde came up with a soft smile and bent down in front of the girl.

"Are you lost?" she asked gently and the girl nodded, wiping some tears off her face.

"My Mummy's out here...but I don't...I don't know wh-where she is."

The blonde smiled and straightened up. "I'll help you find her."

"You will?" the girl looked up at the tall woman.

"Of course. I'm your new friend. C'mon," the blonde took the girl's hand and started walking.

The girl breathed in shakily and gripped the blonde's hand holding hers, never knowing that it would be the start of a unique relationship.

~ 0 ~

 _Clara Oswald was the first child that let go of me and brought me back when she most needed me. She did the impossible and saved me from the lonesome place that I had for so long called 'home'._

 _I often wondered why it was I had to die - I still haven't been able to figure that out. I don't think I'll ever be able to figure it out. But it's okay, because I'm not alone anymore. I have Clara Oswald now, and she is my keeper._

~ 0 ~

It was a very odd thing to receive a letter from Victorian London, but Clara thought of weirder things she'd seen and received since she began travelling with Minerva and the Doctor. She paced in her room, intently reading the letter.

' _My dearest Clara... the Doctor and Minerva entrusted me with your contact details, in the event of an emergency, and I fear one has now arisen. Assuming this letter will have reached you, as planned, on April 10th 2013, please find and light the enclosed candle.._ '

Ally, who was sitting on the edge of Clara's bed, spoke up, warning. - _I wouldn't touch that_ -

"Hm?" Clara had just pulled out the blue candle from the envelope. She continued reading and soon figured what Ally was talking about.

It will release a soporific which will induce a trance state, enabling direct communication across the years.

- _I told you_ \- Ally smirked when Clara let through candle fall.

' _However, as I realise you have no reason to trust this letter, I have taken the liberty of embedding the same soporific into the fabric of the paper you are now holding. Speak soon!'_

Clara looked up from the letter with wide eyes of horror. Ally got up in a flash and hurried, but it was too late. Clara's eyes went cross-eyed before she fell unconscious. With a sigh, Ally kneeled down and looked at the letter on the floor, rereading it for herself.

Her eyes drifted to Clara next. - _I can't let you go on your own. But if I do...-_ she reread the letter again and sighed when she decided she couldn't just let it pass. There was trouble and Clara would probably need her. - _Well, I guess this is as good of a time as ever_ \- She took in a deep breath and put her fingers on Clara's temples.

~ 0 ~

Clara fell right into a neat chair at one end of a conference table. She found herself facing three familiar figures across her: Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax. The room was a darkish shady one too. The walls moved like the insides of and lava lamp, dazzling dark colors on them. On the table there was a set of tea for each to take.

"So glad you could make it," Vastra handed Clara one tea cup.

"Where am I?" Clara looked around, not the least bit panicked. It was a scary way to get there but it looked like no apparent pain was being inflicted on her.

"Exactly where you were - but sleeping," Jenny explained briefly.

"Time travel has always been possible in dreams. We are awaiting only one more participant."

There was a 'poof' sound in the next chair beside Strax. The newest occupant was not one cordially invited, as noted by the loud gasps of Vastra. Everyone's eyes had drawn over to the woman, who was examining the new room she found herself in.

There was another loud puff sound then, on the chair next to Clara, and when it faded away it revealed River Song.

"Madame Vas - Oh my Lord!" River had loudly gasped like the others when she found the blonde woman across her.

"Ally?" Clara blinked, unsure if she was just was dreaming all this or if she had brought in her imaginary friend with her. But...how could everyone else be seeing her?

Ally was done looking at the room and finally settled her gaze on the other occupants at the table. "Oh, hello."

"But...but that's impossible…" River gaped as she leaned forwards on the table.

Ally scoffed. "You're one to talk considering how you were born and how you di-"

"Ma'am," Jenny began, "how is she-"

Ally glanced at Vastra with a sly smile. "It is quite an interesting story but I'm afraid I don't want it told yet. I've got a new role in my life now-"

" _Life_?" River cut in. "You don't have a-"

"Hush," Ally wagged a finger at her.

"Okay," Clara lowered her tea, "what's going on here? How can you all see her?"

"Imaginary friends can be seen by everyone in dreams, Clara," Ally easily supplied, causing further indignation from River.

"Imaginary friend!?" she nearly yelled.

"River, be quiet," Ally snapped. "I am Clara's imaginary friend and she's imagined me in this dream."

"I don't think I have…" Clara said slowly, wheels turning in her mind. It didn't make any sense, and it only added to her growing concerns of Ally.

Ally could see the levels of distrust growing in Clara, as she was suspecting for some time now. "I will explain, eventually," she lied. Glancing back at Vastra, she urged for the conversation to keep going. "Please, what was so important to call up one of these meetings? I did not choose to reveal myself for no reason I hope."

"Um…" Vastra was clearly not over her own shock but she knew time was of the essence. She touched the air above her and provided a projection at the center of their table, coordinates. "Clarence DeMarco. Murderer, under sentence of death. He offered us this in exchange for his life."

"Space time coordinates," River made a face.

"This, Mr DeMarco claims, is the location of the Doctor's greatest secret."

"Which is?" Clara waited patiently.

"We don't know," smiled Jenny. "It's a secret!"

"The Doctor does not discuss his secrets with anyone, my dear," Vastra explained.

"Save my Moonie," River reached forwards for one of the teacups but when she brought up the cup it had changed into a wine flute.

"You shouldn't drink…" Ally said warningly.

"You shouldn't be here," countered River with a crooked smirk.

"And neither should you," Ally shrugged. "Yet here we are beyond our resting bodies."

Clara turned to look her friend with an air of confusion. "Come again?"

"Ladies, please?" Vastra clapped her hands to regain attention.

Ally glanced at the woman. "This DeMarco couldn't have bought his life with this-" she waved at the projection "-what else did he add?"

"One word, only."

"What word?"

"One I'd heard in connection with the Doctor before. Trenzalore."

Ally immediately began shaking her head, uttering multiple 'no's' before loudly saying, "Absolutely not! That is a forbidden place and we all know it!"

"But how do you know so much?" River wondered.

"It's one of the benefits of being me. I can pop in and out whenever I want, wherever I want. I know Trenzalore, and I should like to keep Minerva and the Doctor far away from it."

"Well, according to this, that won't be possible," Vastra waved her hand again to change the projection into the face of DeMarco who began chanting.

 _'The Doctor has a secret, you know. He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered.'_

River stared in both awe and horror. "You misunderstood."

Jenny, who had gone a shade paler all of a sudden, spoke up in a squeaky voice. "Ma'am, I'm sorry - I just realised, I forgot to lock the doors."

"It doesn't matter Jenny," Vastra waved her off before asking Rover, "What misunderstanding, tell me?"

"No, ma'am, please. I should've locked up before we went into the trance!"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Someone's broken in," Jenny explained further, visibly afraid. "Someone's with us - I can hear them."

"Jenny, are you all right?"

"Sorry, ma'am, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry... I think I've been murdered."

And just like that, she began to flicker in and out of existence.

"What's happened to her?" Clara panicked.

"Jenny, can you hear me?" Vastra tried touching her but her hand wasn't making the contact.

"Speak to us, boy!" Strax too had joined but was also unable to.

"Jenny!"

Jenny disappeared without anymore words.

"You're under attack. You must wake up now, just wake up!" River jumped out of her chair and slapped Vastra hard to wake her up. "You too, Strax, wake up now!" she threw her champagne to Strax and he too left.

Ally rose when she saw several figures in dark suits and top hats appear in the, all with a white face empty of any features. Their voices overlapped in whispers.

"Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor."

"Tell him what?" Clara dared to ask as they surrounded the women.

DeMarco's face had changed into that of Dr. Simeon - the host of the Great Intelligence - who answered. "His friends are lost for evermore unless he goes to Trenzalore."

"No! You can't say that," River almost implored. "He can't go there, you know he can't!"

"Angie? Artie?" Clara heard the Doctor's voice from a distance.

"The Doctor can never go to Trenzalore!" River continued to shout.

It was all a snap afterwards. Clara woke up with a light gasp and rose to sit on the floor of her bedroom. Her eyes flickered side to side in search of her imaginary friend that never appeared. The Doctor's voice echoed from downstairs, and quickly Clara got up to go see what was happening downstairs in her absence.

~ 0 ~

In a solitary place covered in what seemed like a gray fog appeared Ally. A couple minutes later, River appeared a couple feet from her.

"You kept the telepathic lines opened," Ally smiled, not the least bit surprised.

"You'd thought I wouldn't?" River raised an eyebrow.

"Frankly, I didn't know it was possible considering we're both dead."

"This family has never been about the possible," River smirked.

"I assume you did the same for Clara, then?"

"Oh yes, and she'll know when she needs to. But now, you and I have a conversation pending."

"Oh no, River, you're not doing this. You're not-"

"How could you be doing this to my Moonie?" demanded River. "All this time, standing beside Clara and you've never-"

"Minerva can't see me," Ally declared what she thought was so obvious. "The Doctor can't see me. River, you couldn't see me either. The only reason you can now is because neither of us are alive."

"But you're not exactly dead," River muttered.

"We're _echoes_ ," Ally said what River couldn't. "I have come to terms with this but I can see it still stings you. That's what happens when you're new at it."

"It?"

Ally turned sideways, kicking non-existent dirt from the ground. "Limbo."

"Ah…"

"You see, I don't know if it's a curse or a gift, but neither of us are really here anymore. What you and I are is merely echoes of the people we used to be. We've just yet to _fade_."

"And do you want to fade?" River's eyes watered all of a sudden, but Ally remained quite blank. "Do you want to go to wherever it is that comes after…" she swallowed hard and gestured an arm at their current surrounding, "... _this_?"

"Everyone has to fade away eventually," Ally responded. "I just haven't quite figured out how to do it yet."

River's eyes glistened but no tears came out.

"But, maybe one day, I will finally rest in peace."

~ 0 ~

The first thing Clara had done was tell the Doctor and Minerva everything that occurred at the conference call Vastra had commandeered….all except the part about Ally. She felt as if that wasn't for them to know just yet, because _she_ wanted to understand first. After all, Ally was _her_ imaginary friend.

She failed to notice the grim looks both aliens wore as she went into the kitchen to make tea for them.

"River asked for the exact words, what were they?" the Doctor asked, his hand around Minerva's gripping without even noticing.

Clara walked back into the room holding tea in her hands. "The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered." The unforeseen tears from Minerva surprised her so much she nearly jumped back and spilled tea. "Minerva?"

"It _can't_ …" the Moontsay turned her head to the Doctor, her voice trembling, "...it can't be!"

Clara thanked the heavens Elias wasn't there with them to see such a spectacle. The baby had been left with his aunt Martha Jones to spend time with his 'cousin' Elizabeth Smith.

The Doctor was on the verge of tears as well but maintained himself far more together than his wife. "And it was Trenzalore? Definitely Trenzalore?"

"Yeah…" Clara felt completely bad for bringing this up then.

"No, no, no," Minerva shook her head adamantly. "Maybe you heard wrong," she looked at Clara with a pleading look, begging her to say she was right. "You misunderstood maybe?"

"Um...no, sorry," Clara felt even more awful then.

"No!" Minerva fervently shook her head again, getting up only because the Doctor had tugged her by her arm. Against her will, they returned to the TARDIS.

"But I don't understand," Clara said after they were inside the TARDIS, eyeing the slightly calmer Minerva, "What does this mean? What's...Trenzalore?"

"Trenzalore," the Doctor muttered, making his way down the small steps leading to the console, but not before motioning Clara to follow him. "I've heard the name, of course. Dorium mentioned it, a few others." He chose a specific set of wires to pull down and sonic it. "Always suspected what it was, never wanted to find out myself. I would assume River knew, she's Minerva's daughter of course she was clever. "Right, come here, give me your hand." He didn't necessarily wait for Clara's approval as he reached for her hand, his other still holding the TARDIS wire. "Now. The coordinates you saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit, won't hurt a bit."

But the jabbing of the wire into her palm most definitely hurt. "Ow!"

"I lied," the Doctor bluntly revealed.

"OK. What is Trenzalore? Is it your big secret?"

"No."

"OK, what then?"

"When you are a time traveler, there is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself."

"Your grave," Minerva appeared by the staircase, her sadness washed away in exchange for a terrible anger. Clara turned around, her short hair swinging with her. "And that is exactly what they want," she now addressed the Doctor. "They want you to go and I won't have that."

"Minerva, you know we can't just stay put," the Doctor left Clara to go up to Minerva but the ginger turned away and headed up the stairs before he could reach her. "Minerva! Minerva!"

"NO!" the ginger yelled, startling Clara who was coming from behind, at a distance because she wanted no part in this argument. "I will not have you go! Trenzalore is where you're _buried_ and you want to _go_? NO!"

"We _have_ to," the Doctor remained surprisingly calm even though he was practically being shouted at. "We have to save Vastra and Strax. Jenny too, if it's still possible."

"I know…" Minerva looked at the console long and hard. "But _you_ can't. Let _me_ go instead. Let me go and get them back."

"Never," the Doctor frowned at the idea.

"It's logical-"

"Something I've never been quite good at," the Doctor gave her a small smile. "We go together, and save our friends together."

Minerva bit her lip, looking at him so fearfully. He took her hand and gave it a gentle kiss, trying to assure her (despite his own fears) that it would be fine.

Clara awkwardly coughed to get some attention. "I want to come too," she raised a hand as a volunteer and smiled widely.

"Clara, it's very dangerous," Minerva said but it made no difference.

"I know. So," she walked up to the console, "when do we leave?"

~ 0 ~

"What is this place?" River walked several feet around the dull place she and Ally were in. There was an eerie silence, the only noise coming from the echo of their voices and steps.

"I have assumed it is my own limbo," Ally answered calmly.

"Assume?"

"Well, there isn't exactly a guide for things like this. I suspect I'm the only one here, and if not, then everyone else has their own limbo to live in. You have something like this too, only it's been modified to be whatever you want inside a library. Lucky."

"Am I really?" River challenged. "You can leave this place and see the Earth as it turns and turns, go back into the past or visit the future. I can't do that. I'm forever stuck in a virtual world. The only reason I get to be here today is because of Vastra's telepathic dream. But even that's gonna end once the line between Clara and I ends. Call me crazy, but I don't think that's very lucky."

Ally looked to the side. "I can't exactly leave this place forever, you know. Everytime I meet a child, and they grow up, I serve no more purpose to their creativity and I come back here to dwell on the new loss. I'm not lucky either, River."

"So then we both agree - we're pathetic," River laughed and playfully rolled her eyes.

"No, we just haven't found our peace," Ally sighed. "But you know, if it helps, Minerva never forgets you. The only reason Clara doesn't know much about you is because Minerva and the Doctor don't trust her completely yet. But everyone else, ask them about River Song...or Fiorella…" River's eyes half-widened at the use of her supposed-to-be secret name, "...and Minerva lights up like a Christmas tree and starts telling them all about her first daughter."

"How do you know that?" River asked quietly, tears making the threat of spilling.

"Because I've been there, River. I have always been with my sister...she just doesn't know it."

~ 0 ~

The TARIDS, unsurprisingly, was refusing to land on Trenzalore. In an effort to keep her inhabitants away from Trenzalore, she turned off all of her features.

"Now what?" Clara looked around the dark console room.

"She doesn't want to land. She's shut down," the Doctor shook his head.

"I don't blame her," Minerva purposely loudly said, swearing she could've heard the smallest of hums from her blue box of wonders.

"So...we're not there?" Clara made a face.

"We must be close," the Doctor smacked a lever in utter frustration before heading for the doors. Minerva scurried after him in time to see what laid outside.

The planet was dark and full of fire, smoke and ash.

"No," Minerva whispered, refusing to believe this was where her husband would rest.

"So...how do we get down there?" Clara thought if she kept things moving she could avoid further arguments between the pair. "Jump?"

"Don't be silly! We fall," the Doctor shut the door and headed back for the console. "She's turned off practically everything, except the anti-gravs. Guess what I'm turning off?"

"You might want to hold on," Minerva urged for Clara to take hold of the banister because the next thing they knew the ant-gravity feature was turned off.

The TARDIS hurdled down into the planet, landing with a very loud bang. The three pulled themselves together, miraculously unhurt, and went back to the front doors. The Doctor opened it up and looked up at the door's pane of glass with a hole cracked.

"Oops…"

"She'll get you for that one," Minerva went right outside, stepping onto a crunchy ground.

They were surrounded by endless gravestones, some bigger than others. Lightning and thunder rumbled above in the sky like that of a typical scary movie.

"You okay?" Minerva glanced at the Doctor, holding out her hand to him.

"Yes," he lied swiftly and took her hand. "But we can't forget that I'm a time traveler. I've probably time-traveled more than anyone else."

"And that means…?" Clara went after them, struggling not to step over branches or whatever dark objects her feet kept stomping on.

"Meaning... my grave is potentially the most dangerous place in the universe."

"Gravestones are a bit basic," Clara remarked.

"It's a battlefield graveyard, my final battle."

"No," Minerva repeated her stance quite adamantly.

"Why are some of them bigger?" Clara had seen a very large headstone passing by.

"They're soldiers, the bigger the gravestone, the higher the rank."

"O-oh dear…" Minerva's shaky voice made Clara stop to look where the ginger was, and even the Doctor.

Up ahead, on a hill, was a giant TARDIS.

"Well. Bright side - it's a helluva monument," Clara blinked, unable to keep her mouth from falling open.

"It's the TARDIS," the Doctor sighed.

"I can see that," Clara popped her mouth back closed.

"No. When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak, all the bigger-on-the-inside starts leaking to the outside. It grows. When I say that's the TARDIS, I don't mean it looks like the TARDIS - I mean it actually is the TARDIS. Our TARDIS from the future," the Doctor paused, staring at what would become of his home. "What else would they bury me in?"

"No," went Minerva again as they started walking.

"Clara, don't speak, don't say my name," River had appeared a few feet from Clara, ignoring the fact she startled the brunette. "Neither can see me nor hear me, only you can."

Ally appeared beside River, wearing a half-smile that Clara did not return.

"Clara, c'mon!" Minerva shouted for her.

"We're mentally linked, it's the conference call. I kept the line open," River quickly explained before the alien pair had returned.

"Who are you talking to?" the Doctor asked Clara.

"We really need to get to Vastra, Jen…" Minerva had trailed off when her eyes caught something past Clara. "River?" She let go of the Doctor's hand to come up to a headstone bearing River's name on it.

Clara frowned. "That's not right."

"Of course," the Doctor said, slowly coming up to Minerva to examine the headstone as well.

"She's not dead," Clara said what she thought was obvious.

"Of course she is," Minerva said sadly, running her fingers over the name.

"No, she's not," Clara shook her head. "She came by to help rescue you remember? And she was at the conference call?"

"You met younger versions, Clara," Minerva's eyes glistened the more she stared at the headstone. "That's the thing about my daughter being a time traveler: to me she's alive but dead at the same time. Unfortunately, the version you met at the conference call was...a dead...version…"

Clara's accusing look turned over to the River neither could see. River responded with a very cheeky smile. "Yeah, should probably have mentioned that - never the right time."

"Her grave cannot be here," the Doctor concluded.

Clara heard faint whispers behind her and whirled around to see a group of 'Whisper Men' approaching them. "Guys!"

One of them pointed at the Doctor. "This man must fall as all men must The fate of all is always dust."

The Doctor tried using his sonic against them but found it didn't work in the least. Panicking, Minerva used her ice but made no impact on them.

- _Can't you do anything?-_ Ally looked over to River.

"What about you?" River curiously wondered.

- _I can only touch sometimes but I'd rather not attempt to do it while they're in danger!_ -

River rolled her eyes and called to Clara. "If it's not my gravestone, then what is it?"

"What do you think the gravestone really is?" Clara quickly repeated to the other aliens.

"The gravestone?" Minerva glanced over her shoulder.

"Maybe it's a false grave!" River exclaimed.

"Maybe it's a false grave!"

"Yeah, maybe…." Minerva bit her lip.

"Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb!" River continued to say for Clara to repeat.

"Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb!"

The Doctor tapped the sonic against his forehead, realizing Clara was right. "Yes, of course, makes sense." He yanked Minerva towards River's gravestone and used the sonic on it. "They'd never have buried my wife's daughter out here!"

"Hell no," Minerva agreed.

The ground underneath them opened up and swallowed them whole. They found themselves in a dark tunnel with roots invading its walls. The Doctor found a torch that he lit with his sonic and used it to lead the way.

"Where are we?" Clara walked closely behind.

"Catacombs," the Doctor said.

"So how come I met a dead version of River?"

"How can you expect a mother to bury her daughter?" Minerva countered with. "I was lucky enough to have a smart husband."

Clara looked back at River who was following with Ally. Minerva's explanation was obscure and she hoped River would elaborate.

Sure enough, River did.

"I died saving them both. In return, they saved me to a database in the biggest library in the universe. Left me like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye."

- _Because it hurt her_ \- Ally said earnestly, missing Clara's confused looks. How would Ally know that?

In the distraction, a Whisper Man walked right through River and reached for Clara. Clara screamed and so the pair took her by the arms and pulled her forwards. They ran and ran until they came across a door - a door to the TARDIS.

Clara followed but was grabbed by one of the Whisper men. Minerva and the Doctor each took one of Clara's hands to pull her in.

"Doctor! Minerva!" Clara screamed as she felt herself being pulled back by the Whisper man.

Ally appeared and slapped her hands onto Clara's arms. - _C'mon_!- she yelled and helped Minerva and the Doctor pull Clara inside. They got the companion in and promptly shut the door, forcing the Whisper Men to retreat.

"Yowzah!" the Doctor breathed in relief, dropping the torch to the ground.

"How did you pull…?" Clara's voice drifted while her eyes, alarmed, widened at Ally. That made absolutely no sense to her - adding one more thing to the list.

"You're gonna have to tell her," River appeared beside the fidgeting Ally.

"Tell me what?" demanded Clara.

"Tell you what?" Minerva came up beside her, curious.

"Nothing," Clara stiffened.

"Well, c'mon," the Doctor went past them, "It's a bit of a climb but I think I remember the way."

Minerva nodded and went after him. Just when Clara was about to do the same, she felt something odd. Her legs buckled and she staggered up to a wall.

The Doctor noticed first and hurried back. "Clara. Clara? It's OK. The dimensioning forces this deep in the TARDIS, they can make you a bit giddy."

"I know, I know," Clara mumbled, before realizing what she had said. "How do I know that!?"

"Clara, it's OK, you're fine…" the Doctor tried to say but Clara was feeling extra odd.

She was getting different images in her mind, that of the TARDIS and...certain rooms she didn't quite remember. "We've done this before…" she looked up, "...climbing through a wrecked TARDIS - you said things, things I'm not supposed to remember. I _saw_ things that...I couldn't remember."

There was a brief image of Ally fighting off burned creatures by picking actual objects up. As a child, that may pass a simple part of an imaginary friend but as an adult, Clara knew better than that. A figment of imagination should never be able to pick anything up.

"Ally picked things up…" she said out loud, her eyes snapping onto her blonde imaginary friend, "...but how could you do that?"

"We'd like to know the same thing," Minerva mumbled under her breath.

"We can't do this now," the Doctor groaned. The TARDIS is a ruin, the telepathic circuits are awakening memories you shouldn't even have."

But Clara's mind was being invaded by more memories.

 _Why do we keep running into you?_

 _We met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck, and she died saving our lives. And she was **you**._

 _Victorian London...there was a governess who was a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together, she died, and it was our fault - and she was you._

"Clara, what's wrong?" Minerva hurried back as well, seeing Clara was losing it more and more.

"What did you mean…" she gasped, "...you keep meeting me?"

 _And both women had imaginary friends...Citlally and Holly..._

"And...and imaginary friends?" Clara's voice shook. "Citlally? ...Holly?"

- _She's remembering when the TARDIS crashed_ \- Ally swallowed hard. Clara wasn't supposed to remember that event.

"TARDIS crashing?" Clara now looked at her demandingly. "What do you mean?" Ally looked away, clearly conflicted. "Ally what do you mean!?" Clara's voice rose with more aggressiveness.

- _It doesn't matter_ -

"Yes, it does!" Clara exclaimed, ignoring the looks from Minerva and the Doctor. "Because nothing about you makes sense anymore! You're my imaginary friend and yet people can _see_ you! You can move things with your hands! That's _not_ an imaginary friend!"

Ally's eyes filled with tears, but her mouth was glued shut by her own fear. River appeared as well, and with the saddest of voices, said, "Because she's _not_ your imaginary friend. She never has been."

 _'The girl who died he tried to save - She'll die again inside his grave.'_

The Doctor couldn't wait another minute and with Minerva's agreement, they yanked Clara forwards and broke into a run. Luckily, or perhaps not so, they arrived at the front of the TARDIS grave where Dr. Simeon, revealed to be the host body for the Great Intelligence stood at the head. Vastra, Strax and a very alive Jenny were being kept on the side by Whisper Men.

"Here I am, late to my own funeral," the Doctor tried to be casual. "Glad to see you could make it, Jenny," he glanced back to see how the human was doing. She smiled and nodded she was alright.

"Open the door, Doctor. Speak, and open your tomb," the Intelligence ordered.

"No."

"Because you know what's in there?"

"I will not open those doors."

"The key is a word lost to time. A secret hidden in the deepest shadow and known to you alone. The answer to a question!"

The Doctor, scowling, came face to face with the Intelligence. "I will not open my tomb."

"Doctor, what is your name?"

The Doctor remained completely silent. With a gloved hand, the Intelligence reached forth and gripped the Doctor's face, but still the Time Lord did not give in. He forcibly yanked the hand off his face.

Accepting the challenge, the Intelligence went around him to face the others. "The Doctor's friends, stop their hearts." With a balled fist, the Whisper Men moved into action.

"Madam, boys, combat formation!" Strax exclaimed, turning to do just that. "They are unarmed!"

"I would like to point out that so are we," Minerva stepped backwards.

"Do not divulge our military secrets!"

"It wasn't a secret to begin with!"

"Stop this! Leave them alone!" the Doctor panicked as one Whisper Man went up to Minerva. As much as she tried, her blasts of ice could only break them apart for so little time before they reformed.

"Your name, Doctor. Answer me!" the Intelligence ordered.

"Don't you dare!" Minerva pointed a finger at the Doctor. "We can...handle it…" she blasted and blasted, but they kept coming at her.

"Doctor Who?"

- _We have to do something!_ \- Ally appeared in front of Clara as a Whisper Man walked towards her.

"Can't do that if we don't know the name!" River angrily reminded, feeling rather helpless in her position.

"Aagh!" Strax was fighting off a hand within his chest.

"Please, stop it!" the Doctor implored, seeing his friends and wife surrounded by the Whisper Men.

"Doctor Who?"

"Ally!" Clara fervently looked around for her imaginary friend that had disappeared.

"Unhand me, sir!" Strax fought off to no avail. "Aagh!"

"Leave him alone, let him be!" Minerva blasted the Whisper Men that was handling Strax but it did nothing for his defense.

"Don't worry, sir, I think I've got him rattled!"

"Doctor Who?"

Suddenly, the doors behind the Doctor and the Intelligence creaked and slowly opened to a crack. The Whisper Men were immediately called off.

"Why did you open the door!?" Minerva rounded on the Doctor.

"I didn't do it," the Doctor raised his hands, equally surprised as the rest. "I didn't say my name!"

Ally walked through the doors with a crooked smile directed at Clara. - _The TARDIS is dead, and the dead can see the dead. I walked right in and she let me open it myself_ -

Clara was heavily focusing on the 'the dead can see the dead' part of that explanation. "Come again!?" Everyone looked at her but she ignored them.

"Do you know what's in there?" Minerva looked straight at the Intelligence.

"For me-"

"Ah, the correct answer is 'none of your business'," she snapped.

The Intelligence merely smiled. "Such sarcasm will soon end. Won't you invite us in, Doctor?"

The Doctor sucked in a breath, seeing there was nothing else to do. He walked forwards and pushed open the heavy doors.

What laid inside was an empty console room, missing its console of course. In its place stood a tower of light with overlapping strings. There was no more silver floors and instead was replaced by dirt. The walls were invaded with vines. The cloister bell rang in the background.

"What's that?" Clara was looking at the light.

"What were you expecting?" the Doctor gave a short scoff. "A body? Bodies are boring, I've had loads of 'em. That's not what my tomb is for."

"Where am I, though?" he heard Minerva whisper, and to his dread he found her eyes frantically searching the room for any remnant of herself.

The Doctor had never felt so relieved at that moment. If her remnants were not there, then it meant she survived and she was probably with Elias. That made things better for him.

"But what is the light?" Vastra curiously asked then.

"It's beautiful," Jenny remarked, clearly awed.

"Should I destroy it?" Strax bluntly asked.

"Doctor, explain," Clara turned on the alien pair. "What is that?"

"The tracks of my tears…" the Doctor said quietly.

"Less poetry, Doctor. Just tell them," the Intelligence motioned with a hand.

"Time travel is... damage. It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space, from Gallifrey to Trenzalore," the Doctor used his sonic on the light and for a moment everyone in the room could hear his past incarnations' voices overlapping with one another. "My own personal time tunnel, all the days, even the ones that...I, er, even the ones that I haven't lived yet," suddenly he jerked and dropped to the ground.

"Doctor!" Minerva gasped and dropped to his side to help.

His body jerked uncomfortably, shaking his head. "No. No. Which is why I shouldn't be here. The paradox is... it's very bad," he saw the Intelligence heading towards the light. "No. What are you doing? Somebody stop him!"

"OUT!" Minerva shot a blast of ice but did no harm.

"The Doctor's life is an open wound. And an open wound can be entered."

"It would destroy you," Minerva snapped.

"Not at all. It will kill me - it will destroy him," the Intelligence nodded to the Doctor. "I can rewrite your every living moment. I can turn every one of your victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to your every breath."

"It would burn you up. Once you go through, you can't come back - you'll be scattered along my timeline, like confetti," the Doctor tried to make it as less appealing as possible.

"It matters not, Doctor. You thwarted me at every turn. Now, you will give me peace, as I take my revenge on every second of your life! Goodbye... Goodbye, Doctor!"

"NO!" Minerva got up and lunged forwards but it was too late.

The Intelligence had jumped inside and began invading the timelines. The white light was altered into a dangerous red as the man screamed in pain. The Whisper Men disappeared one by one and eventually the Intelligence was swallowed up by the light.

The Doctor's sharp cries of pain returned Minerva to his side. "He's being rewritten!" she exclaimed, terrified as she made the connections in her mind. "And soon...so will I…"

"What do you mean?" Clara scrambled to be beside them.

Minerva ignored her as she attended to the Doctor, clearly helpless herself.

"If the Doctor is rewritten, then he never meets my Moonie, and she dies in war," River said in a shaky voice, standing beside Ally.

"WHAT!?" Clara's eyes widened in a terror.

- _Everyone will be rewritten_ \- Ally said in a blank stare, - _Even you and I, Clara_ -

"Rewritten? The both of us?" Clara looked down at the writhing Doctor. "But how can you and I be rewritten? You don't even exist!"

- _Oh, I existed_ \- Ally corrected with a slight nod.

Clara looked away from the aliens and glared at the blonde, tired of all the obscurity. "What does that _mean_!?" She angrily rose from her spot from the ground.

"Clara, quit fighting with your imaginary friend," Minerva said distractedly, her hands cupping the Doctor's face.

"No!" snapped Clara, refusing to look away from Ally. "Because I'm tired of all these secrets!

"Simeon is attacking his entire timeline," Vastra was reading off a small, hand-held device.

"It doesn't matter!" Clara selflishly said, really not even paying attention anymore. "You Ally, you have some answers and I want them now!"

-My name is _not_ Ally!- Ally snapped herself. -And I am _not_ your imaginary friend! I am not yours, I was not to any of them!-

Clara's eyebrows knitted together. "Who's 'them'-"

But Ally was finally free to disclose who she was, and boy did it take a toll on her. - _I have never been a true imaginary friend! I've never been one! Not to you, not to Avalon, to Romina, nor Amelia's_ \- Ally began listing from the top of her head the children that had made her into their imaginary friend, - _My name is not Caity, it's not Jana, it's not Elissa, not Tabitha! My name is Olivia Souza, and I did too exist on this Earth once upon a time!_ -

Clara's eyes became protuberant, nearly popping out from her head. "Souza? What do you mean-"

"Oh for goodness sake!" Minerva furiously looked up from the Doctor. "Can you pick another mo-" she involuntarily stopped and put a hand over her chest.

Clara calmed only slightly at the sight of. "Minerva-"

"T-time..." Minerva croaked, "...it's catching up..."

"Minerva..." Clara stepped forwards, but just like that Minerva had disappeared.

"M-Minerva…" the Doctor barely raised a hand off the ground, after his wife that was no more.

"What happened!?" Clara whirled to Vastra, more panicked than ever.

"He's dying all at once," the Silurian woman gestured wildly. "Everything is being rewritten in consequence...Minerva is no more."

- _My sister!_ \- Olivia cried out, dropping to her knees.

"My Moonie," River sniffed.

"He's dying, he's dying," Vastra read off her device, "The Dalek Asylum. Androzani-"

Clara's head, as well as Olivia's, snapped once more to her. "What did you say?" Clara voiced the question they both had. "Did you say the Dalek Asylum?"

Vastra was too engulfed with the readings to answer. "Now he's dying in London, with us."

"London…" Clara repeating, thinking and thinking.

-Citlally…Holly- Olivia looked around.

"It is done," the Intelligence's voice was heard once more before it was completely gone, leaving behind a flashing red light.

The Doctor had never felt pain like this before. He writhed on the floor, yelping and crying, but it wouldn't matter. Soon, he would be nothing more. Clara paced back and forth, letting Vastra slip away with Jenny and Strax a moment.

"Victorian London," she rubbed her temples, desperately trying to think of a plan. "The Dalek Asylum…" she stopped and knelt down beside the Doctor. "You and Minerva said it was me that saved you. Me and...an imaginary friend? How? Victorian London. How, how could I have been in Victorian London?"

The Doctor wasn't quite coherent at the moment. "No. Please, stop, my life... My whole life is _burning_." He was sure by this time, he had no more son either. Hell, Elias had probably gone first before Minerva. He just wanted to be with them again.

"Doctor, you listen to me!" Clara shook him gently. "I think I get it now. I think...I think I have to go in there…" her eyes drifted to the light.

"No, please, no…"

"Yeah...this is what I've already done. You've already seen me do it. I'm...an Impossible Girl, and this is why."

"Whatever you're thinking of doing... don't," River warned her, but somehow Clara detected she wasn't really meaning it.

"If I step in there... what happens?"

"The time winds will tear you into a million pieces. A million versions of you, living and dying all over time and space. Like... echoes."

"But the echoes could save the Doctor, right? Bring back Minerva?"

"Yes, but those Clara's will not be you. The _real_ you will die. Those will just be copies."

"But they'll be real enough to save him," Clara smiled more, ignoring her falling tears. "Like my mum said, the souffle isn't the souffle - the souffle is the recipe. It's the only way to save him, isn't it?"

"The stars are going out," Vastra returned quite panicked. "And Jenny and Strax are dead. There must be something we can do?"

Clara stood up with a laugh. "Well, how about that? I'm Souffle Girl after all."

"No, please, Clara…" the Doctor watched her walk away from him.

"If this works, get out of here as fast as you can. And spare me a thought now and then," Clara nervously smiled. She faced the light with a head held up high. "It might get to be a lonely job…"

"No."

Clara felt her hand being taken by someone beside her. Olivia was looking straight at the light. "I often wondered why it was I had to die. It was so unfair. I think I finally figured it out." A smile began spreading across her face as she gripped Clara's hand. "To form the Impossible Duo and save the Doctor and my sister."

Clara glanced at the blonde woman, matching her smile. "...Olivia?"

"Liv," she corrected. "That was my name. But that time is over now. Let's run."

The two women ran into the light.

* * *

 _'I don't know where I am…I just know I'm running...'_

Clara and Olivia fell through the time vortex, grasping each other's hands with their eyes shut tight. Yellow flames encircled them together, mixing together.

 _'Sometimes it's like I've lived a thousand lives in a thousand places. But I've never been alone - I've always had my friend. We run together, to save the Doctor. I'm born, I live, and I die'_

- _I live with her and I die with her, because that is what a friend does - what a sister does. We are each other's half_ -

 _'And always, there's the Doctor. Always, we're running to save the Doctor.'_

 _'Again…'_

 _-And again…-_

 _'And again._ _And he hardly ever hears me._ '

* * *

A young, first-incarnation Doctor, stepped into the forbidden corridor leading towards the safe TARDIS.

"Doctor?" he heard a woman call for him.

He flinched and turned around, knowing full well he was caught. Standing across him was a brunette woman, wearing a wide smile.

"Sorry, but you're about to make a very big mistake," a Time Lady Clara echo warned. "Don't steal that one, steal this one. The navigation system's knackered, but you'll have much more fun. You'll dazzle that special girl," she winked at the red-faced Doctor.

Ally walked around the Doctor, unable to be seen, with a smirk as well and headed for the door that stowed away the TARDIS that would become the 'Box of Wonders'. With a knock of her hands she opened it up for him. Clara gestured the young Doctor to go right ahead.

* * *

 _'I don't know where we are. I don't know where we're going, or where we've been. I was the born to save the Doctor-_

- _And had to die first in order to later save him_ -

 _'But the Doctor is safe now.'_

We're the Impossible Duo and our story is finally done.

- _Is it time to rest in peace?_ -

Clara's and Liv's clasped hands were sharing the same Vortex fires, their eyes flashing open bearing the same flames inside.

* * *

"Oh, no…" Minerva felt icky from the stomach, her head bearing a terrible ringing. The Doctor was holding her, back to normal as were the rest. The light in the middle of the TARDIS had reverted back to white as well.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked Minerva, cupping her face just to see for himself.

Minerva smiled and pulled him down for a kiss. "Judge by that, and tell me what you think."

"Excellent, because…" the Doctor glanced at the white light, the clear idea settling in his eyes.

River, now the only unseen being remaining, started calling to them as if they would be able to hear her. "You can't go in there. It's your own time stream, for God's sake!"

"You can't go there," Minerva tugged on the Doctor's hand, forcing him to stay where he are. "Let me do it, it's much safer."

"After you just disappeared on me?"

"That's in the past, now hush," Minerva waved him, intending on moving forwards when she was promptly yanked back. "And again!"

"I am not risking you like that!"

"Oh, but you expect me to let you risk yourself?"

"Someone has to make it back with Elias!"

"THEN LET ME DO IT SO WE CAN _BOTH_ GET BACK TO OUR SON!"

"But is Clara even still alive?" Vastra interjected.

"Of course she is, because she's got one advantage over the Great Intelligence," the Doctor shrugged.

"Which is?"

"Me."

"NO!" Minerva pushed him away, trying to get to the light before he did like it was a race. The Doctor reached for her and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her back. "Stop being so dramatic! It'll be just a bit!"

"You have to listen to her," River pleaded from the Doctor. "She's the only sensible one around here!"

"You can wait for me here," Minerva pleaded with her hands gripping the Doctor's. "It'll probably be a minute or so, and then we can get back home to our son!"

"She's really right, you know, just let her do it. My Moonie is strong enough-"

"Yes, River, of course I am, now let me think clearly for another excuse," Minerva surprised her by directly looking at her with an impatient look.

River stiffened on her spot, her mouth falling open. "How are you even doing that? I'm not really here."

Minerva bitterly laughed, rolling her eyes. "A mother never forgets her children. I see you everywhere, my Fiorella."

Unfortunately, no one else did.

"Then why didn't you speak to me?" River frowned, displaying her open pain.

Minerva's smile was joined by teary eyes. "You want me to speak to my dead daughter? A daughter I couldn't save?"

"You saved me, Moonie, so many times. Everyone has to die-"

"Not _you_ ," Minerva interjected, stomping her foot in frustration. "None of my children should _ever_ have to die. Because I should be there, saving you, _always_. No mother should ever have to see her children die."

"I accepted my death, Moonie, I think you should too," River smiled sadly. "Olivia was right, I _am_ just an echo-"

"Olivia…?" Minerva faintly repeated.

"There is a time and place for us all to live, and I think I have exceeded that time. I supposed the hard part of fading away is the fear of never being remembered again. I don't want to be forgotten, Mother," River's eyes filled with tears.

"No, no, you will _never_ be forgotten," Minerva hurried up to her urgently, missing the Doctor behind her slowly drift towards the light. "I don't ever forget my loved ones. The things we remember are often the ones we miss the most. And I miss you, my Fiorella. I will make sure your memory lives on forever and ever, soaring past Elias and his children, and their children, and so on. I will carry your memory with me, to my own grave."

"Moonie-Mummy, I think I can finally go to rest," River said truthfully.

"You rest my sweet Fiorella," Minerva kissed her bushy hair and smiled with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Before I go, I have to tell you something," River sniffed. "I was mentally linked with Clara. If she's really dead, then how can I still be here?"

"River was mentally linked with Clara," Minerva repeated out loud, her eyes widening in awe. "So...so then…"

River chuckled. "My clever Moonie-Mummy…" and she faded away with a last smile.

Minerva bit her lip so hard to keep herself from sobbing there and then. "Doctor," she turned to explain what it was all about, only to see him dashing into the light, "NO!" she went after him but Vastra caught her in time.

~ 0 ~

Clara fell with a thud onto a mist-shrouded ground. A few seconds later, she heard Olivia's 'oof' not too far from her.

"Ow! That hurt!" Olivia gasped, sitting upright. "That... _hurt_ …."

Clara, who had landed face down, raised her head in confusion. "Wh-where are we? I...I don't know where we are…"

Olivia looked around, coming up with the same answer. "I don't know where we are either…"

"Clara," they both heard the Doctor's voice but could not see him. "You can hear me, I know you can."

"I can't see you," Clara swallowed hard, getting the feeling they were not alone besides them and the current Doctor.

"I'm everywhere. You're inside my time stream. Everything around you is me."

An incarnation of the Doctor's passed by them, nearly stepping on Olivia's hand.

"Hey!" the blonde exclaimed.

"You're not alone," the current Doctor said, sounding surprised.

"You can hear me now?" Olivia raised her head as if she would see the Doctor.

"That voice...it's not possible…"

"I lost possible the moment I opened my eyes after the hospital," Olivia countered, "And I saw my own body there on the bed, eyes shut...and no heartbeat."

"You're not possible…"

"Bingo. I'm curious, though," Olivia pushed herself up to her feet, along with Clara, "If you can hear me, what does that mean for others?"

Clara gripped Olivia's hand too tight and the blonde yelped.

"Ow!" But she gasped again. "I felt that! I actually felt that!"

Clara gave her a weak smile.

"What's happening…?" Olivia looked around with a dazzling smile.

"You're changing," Clara said the obvious, the bit she understood anyways. "I can see it in your eyes," she pointed towards Olivia's blue eyes still reflecting spots of brilliant gold flames.

"Like yours?" Olivia countered, surprising Clara. Her eyes were reflecting the same bits of flames as well.

"But...what does that mean?"

"I...don't know," Olivia smiled as she felt the forgotten sense of warmth on her cheeks.

"But I do," the Doctor finally showed his face to the two, standing a great deal across them. His eyes were glued onto Olivia's, drinking in her entire features.

She looked exactly the same as the last time he had seen her before dying. Her face was clean from all the injuries she'd sustained from her car accident, but her eyes were much older now. There was a tint of sadness invading her pupils but it wasn't as much as before, he didn't know that one though.

"I know exactly why I had to die now," Olivia walked forwards, gently taking Clara with her now. "It took a long while but I finally got there. You couldn't save me, because my death was a fixed point in time. Sure it was to direct Minerva's life, but it was also so that I would later turn into what I am and be able to save _you_. I accept that. But will I die now, Doctor? Has death finally caught up with me?"

The Doctor began to smile. "I think there is a lot more things left for you to do, Olivia. Starting-" he reached to take her hand and Clara's, "-with seeing your sister."

~ 0 ~

"I'm gonna kill him!" Minerva paced back and forth in the empty console room. "Oh, when he comes back I'm gonna kill him!"

"Ma'am, maybe you should sit down," Jenny offered but Minerva flat out ignored her.

"He thinks he's gonna get away with this but I'll get him back! He'll see!"

The white light flashed at an unbearable brightness, forcing Minerva to stop her pacing and shield her eyes. The Doctor emerged holding a fainted Clara.

Minerva lowered her arms from her eyes, squinting as the light died down. What she saw next was nowhere near what she thought would ever happen. From around the light, she could see a woman with blonde hair. The blonde moved around, revealing a set of teary, blue eyes set on Minerva.

"O-o-oh," Minerva stumbled backwards, nearly falling if Strax and Jenny hadn't held her. She was breathing heavily, her head whipping towards the Doctor who was encouragingly nodding for her go up.

"Minerva," Olivia chuckled lightly as tears spilled down to her cheeks, "Can you see me? Can you... _actually_ see me?"

Minerva was trying to comprehend where the hell was this supposed to be coming from. She searched for any clear answers but the only one able to do it was unconscious.

"I'm Ally," Olivia said, trying to clear up her confusion. "I'm Clara's imaginary friend - or so she thought."

Minerva wouldn't budge from her spot. She shook her head. "No...m-my...my sister's d-dead...I know…"

"I _am_ ," Olivia assured.

"Not anymore," the Doctor cut in, visibly studying Olivia. "From a glance I would say you are partially living, thanks to Clara of course. You must have had some sort of merging throughout the timeline."

"But you can't be here!" Minerva exclaimed. "Because...because you _died_! I know you did! I cried for you! I cried at your gravestone! I cried at your statues on the Monsoon!"

"I know, I know," Olivia sniffed. "I was there, for all of it. You just couldn't see me."

"This isn't possible," Minerva dug her hands into her long hair, trying to think clearly.

"It is, when you learn what happened. Before you changed into a Moontsay again, that little blue light came into my hospital room after I died - right afterwards - and I don't know what it did but it invaded my entire body. Next thing I knew, I woke up and got out of bed. But, when I turned back, I was still there on the bed. The monitor was dead. _I_ was dead."

"An echo," Minerva sniffed loudly. "I created an echo of you."

"A very real echo," the Doctor concluded. "You can't bring someone back to life without consequence. What you did, back then, was take a living part of Olivia's soul to recreate an echo."

Minerva gasped in horror. "I didn't let you move on!" she realized.

Olivia shook her head. "You still needed me, and here I am. I have _always_ been there, Minerva. I was there when you got married - I accidentally knocked down one of those pretty little pots the Doctor had set up on the spot where he proposed to you, do you remember?"

Minerva nodded, recalling how startled the mysterious pot that fell had caused her to be. "The falling tulip at the Moontsay statue…" she then remembered, "that...that was…"

"Me, trying to get your attention," Olivia smiled more. "I've been there, maybe less and less, but I always knew where you were."

"But...but why couldn't you...tell me…?"

"First of all, because the little that you gave me from your living soul wasn't enough to make full contact with you, or anyone," Olivia shrugged. "I may not be dead but I was not alive. Second of all, I stopped interacting because I saw how you were moving on. You were getting married, Minerva. You were taking the throne, fighting the Silence. You were giving birth to your first son. You didn't need me - I was a closed chapter in your life that had to stay closed."

Olivia glanced at Clara, who was still unconscious. "I found out that, for some reason, I was able to be seen by children. I suspected it was because of your Monsoon genes that held onto emotions. It tapped into children's minds - their frazzled, emotional minds - and I could see them until they grew up into teenagers...when their minds use creativity less. Some thought I was their imaginary friend, and I let them think it. I have been an imaginary friend to so many children - among those Amelia Pond's - and currently Clara Oswald's."

"You were Tabitha," Minerva vaguely recalled the imaginary friend Amy talked about. Olivia had been there...and she couldn't see her!? "Clara could see you though," Minerva remarked, glancing at the brunette in the Doctor's arms.

"Yes, Clara has been my keeper for such a long time now. She stopped seeing me when she was nearing her teenage years. It was normal for me...but I always like keeping tabs so of course when I knew her mother died...I had to go to her. Even if she couldn't see me I needed to be there for her. I was so shocked when she turned her head and said my name. Clara's mind had opened up again - the loneliest of people can see wonders," Olivia sighed. "And I have been with her ever since. She made my life a lot happier. I thank the world for Clara Oswald, because she saved me."

"Olivia…Liv..." Minerva stepped forwards, a shaking hand reaching to touch her sister's face. She gulped when her hand touched Olivia's cheek. "You're here!" her eyes widened and threw her arms around Olivia's neck, bursting into sobs.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

You guys...have no idea...how long...I waited for this chapter! Seriously, I've been playing with this idea since Minerva/10's stories! I felt so bad when I gave Liv such a shitty ending that I thought...what if the story didn't end there? So then I started adding here and there, tapping into the Moontsay's established emotional features. The real Olivia Souza is dead, but Minerva made sort of like an echo of the soul thus reanimating Liv but with different things...such as only being able to be seen by children. It was established before that children's minds are widely open to anything so I figured they would be the only ones to be seen (and so Elias has been able to see her this whole time) but since Clara's loss of mother left her lonely, her mind opened again to see some sort of hope for recuperation...in the form of Liv. Hopefully, that'll make sense and if not feel free to ask questions!

I can say that Liv has now become another main OC!

Next chapter we have...the Day of the Doctor! I looooove that chapter so much! I got to see my 10 again, plus the War Doctor and...a younger Minerva? Who'd you think the Moment will take the form of? And who will 10 be with? Ah, you're gonna love it! ;)


	16. All My Doctors

**A/N:** Reminder that Minerva's second incarnation has long, straight brown hair with jade-green eyes and is smaller in height. Picture the actress Victoria Camacho for visuals! Minerva's current incarnation (her 3rd) has long, straight ginger hair with hazel eyes and is a bit taller in height. See the actress Adela Noriega for visual references!

Also, since we now have Liv - who used to be Ally - in the game, her appearance will be given. She is tall with medium-length, blonde hair and blue eyes. Her visual appearance is like the actress _Kimberly Dos Ramos_!

* * *

At Coal Hill Secondary School everything was as normal as could be. The students, albeit slightly misbehaving, were normal for their school age and development. Teachers taught what they were required to, and in return students begrudgingly wrote their assignments. As of late, however, there was only one peculiar teacher that no one had taken a moment to really study. If they had, they would have noticed strange things. For example, talking to someone who wasn't always there. Sometimes, things fell from places with no one's help.

This teacher was a new teacher. Miss Oswald.

"'Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.' Marcus Aurelius," Clara faced her tired students with a contrasting wide smile.

Luckily, for the students, the bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Everyone scrambled to pick up their books and backpacks, apparently not one minding that their teacher hadn't yet assigned their essay for next week. Clara turned to her clear board and started erasing what she'd written earlier.

"You're needed," Liv's sudden presence made no such impact on Clara. The not-so-imaginary-friend leaned against the classroom doorway.

Clara glanced sideways with an arched eyebrow. "Needed?"

"Would like to go, could be fun, don't have to if you don't want to...somewhere along those lines," Liv shrugged with a cheeky smile. "I wasn't listening very well - Elias and I were having a stare off contest."

Clara playfully rolled her eyes and finished erasing the board. "Who's bright idea was it to have a staring contest with a _toddler_?"

"The winner," Liv smirked, straightening up triumphantly.

"Liv," Clara playfully scolded, though silently applauded herself for finally getting the name right without having to correct herself like she'd done ever single time since the Trenzalore incident. Because she now knew who 'Ally' really was, Clara thought it was only right that Olivia Souza, while still technically dead, could finally get to live how she wanted. In that, Liv had dropped the name 'Olivia Souza' and taken up the name 'Liv Oswald' in honor of the very woman who allowed her a new chance to live for a while.

"You wanna go, then?" Liv asked.

Clara shook her head and turned to her friend. "Well, where am I off to exactly?"

Liv smirked wider as she gestured the way out. Clara snagged her black jacket and...a motorcycle helmet. She zoomed out of the school and onto the road. When she felt arms around her waist, she rolled her eyes behind her helmet and shouted.

"You can just pop into the TARDIS you know!"

Liv laughed as loudly as possible, clearly enjoying the ride. "Give me a break! I can feel now!"

Clara shook her head slightly, unsurprised, although very much amused. Liv discovered that much like the metacrisis that gave her alien sister, Minerva, human characteristics as well as Donna Noble Moontsay characteristics, she now possessed some living human characteristics. This allowed for Liv to now choose whether or not to be seen by people no matter what their age or species.

Over a crest of a hill, Clara and Liv were able to see the bright blue TARDIS on the side of the road. As she went down and neared, Clara honked the horns of the motorcycle and the doors opened up for her. She made a graceful entrance into the box, pulling off her black helmet to see what was going on with her favorite aliens.

"Close the doors Clara, I just gave Elias a bath," Minerva kindly requested from the console.

"Ew," came the clearly unhappy response from said bathed toddler.

Clara rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, getting a very easy response from the TARDIS as she shut her doors. Ever since Liv revealed herself, the TARDIS had relinquished her dislike of Clara. There was no clear danger Clara presented so there was no more need to make her life miserable.

"Uh...what are you doing?" Liv was walking up to the Doctor who was sitting on the small staircase leading up to the corridor. He had Elias sitting on his lap with a book - titled Advanced Quantum Mechanics - in front of them.

"Clearly trying to read to my son," the Doctor shrugged, reaching to turn the page.

"Are you kidding me!?" Clara snorted. "It's not like he actually cares-"

"No!" Elias had slapped his small hand over the Doctor's, stopping him from turning the page. "No, Daddy," he shook his head fervently, as much as a one year old could.

The Doctor sent a smirk towards Clara. "I think you can see El is very interested."

"Ah!" Elias exclaimed, patting a picture on the page for his father to see.

"No more 'ah' Elias," Minerva called again, her voice soothed, "Use your words now."

Elias exchanged a look with his father, the latter giving him a look that said 'you best just do it'. Minerva thought it was high time Elias began to try out his new learned words. He had learned quite a lot in the last couple months. Seeing he had just passed his first year and not walking, the least he could do was continue to use actual worded sentences.

"So, Clara-" Minerva looked up to the brunette, "-fancy a week in Ancient Mesopotamia followed by future Mars?"

Clara rocked on her feet, pretending to think about it. "Will there be cocktails?"

"On the moon," Minerva reminded.

" _Moontsay_ moon?"

"We're starting small," Minerva gave her a teasing smile and went around the console.

"Oh, but c'mon, when do I get to visit this snowy planet of yours?" Clara rushed after her like a child would for a sweet candy.

"When I think you can handle it," Minerva laughed at her. She was, of course, more open to the idea of bringing Clara to the Moontsay and about her learning more about their backgrounds now that they knew Clara for real. Still, it was kind of fun to tease.

"So how was your new job?"

"Well, in the beginning it was tough, but, I think I'm getting the hang of it now," Clara resigned to having yet another trip that wasn't to the Monsoon.

"That's good. I'm glad you found a new - AH!"

The TARDIS had suddenly rocked so hard that it knocked both women to the floor. The Doctor, who now held Elias tightly in his arms, nearly fell forwards himself.

"What's happening!?" Liv stayed perfectly still throughout the ruckus. She was not affected by the external environment.

"We're taking off," Minerva was clambering onto the console, just enough to see the monitor. "But I...I didn't even turn on the engines yet!"

"Yet we're still moving!" Clara bumped into her due to a violent sway of the TARDIS.

"Hang on!" the Doctor struggled to reach the women and handed Elias off to Clara being the closest one.

"Ah!" Elias reached for his father who was already on his way towards the doors. The wide smile on his face told everyone he was clearly enjoying the unexpected ride.

"Quit your laughing young man!" Minerva scolded to no avail. "Doctor, where do you think you're going!?"

The Time Lord had already opened one of the doors for God knows what reason. Unable to be seen, he had reached for the outside telephone. He had an idea of what was happening and he needed to make that phone call.

"Elias!" Clara was the one to fuss as the toddler wildly flapped his hands in delight. He no longer harbored any dislike for Clara as well. He was just happy that everyone could finally see that Liv was actually his aunt Liv now and wasn't just Clara's big secret. Although Liv and Clara had to explain to him several times that Clara did _not_ know anything about Olivia Souza and therefore she couldn't tell the Doctor or Minerva about Liv's identity.

"DOCTOR!" Minerva screamed terribly when she saw her husband tumble out of the TARDIS. She left the console and made a wobbly run for the doors. To her relief, yet still slight horror, the Doctor was hanging upside down from the door. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"Wha - how is this _my_ fault!?" the Doctor shouted right before the outside phone smacked him on the face. After a couple of swings, he snagged the phone and spoke into an honest concerned Kate Stewart. "Next time, would it kill you to knock?"

"Who are you talking to!?" demanded Minerva from the doorway, still looking pretty peeved at him.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and, meaning to be a joke, called up, "My girlfriend!"

"WHAT. WAS. THAT?"

Voice of _doom_.

"...nothing!"

Minerva huffed and held onto his ankles so he wouldn't slip to his death. No, she wanted to get him first. But the Doctor, being who he was, didn't wait for the TARDIS to properly land, no. In an abrupt sense, he tried to swing upwards and regain himself.

"Doctor!" Minerva couldn't hold on from the attempt. She scrambled forwards again, and to her relief she could see glimpses of her husband still clinging onto the TARDIS...underside, but still there.

The final destination became the Trafalgar Square, where apparently they were being waited on. As the blue box made it to the ground, the Doctor let go and landed on his own. He was greeted by many soldiers at first, one of them shouting 'attention!' and startling the Doctor into a scrambled salute.

"Why am I saluting?" the Doctor questioned himself a moment after and lowered his hand.

"Because, dear," Minerva had stepped out as well, "you're an idiot," she went right past him and up to the responsible woman for the incident. "Kate Stewart, you and I need to discuss your matters of getting in contact with us. There _is_ an _baby_ on board should I remind?" she gestured back as Clara came out holding a giggling Elias in arms.

"Technically, toddler," Liv appeared beside Minerva, startling Kate and her soldiers.

"He's my baby!" Minerva denied the fact her son was growing.

"Don't shoot!" Clara came running to her blonde friend.

"Kate, really, no aims, please," the Doctor said in regards to Liv. "That's my wife's late sister. She pops in every now and then."

"Long story short, my human elder sister turned out to be sort of alive," Minerva explained. "Now where's your explanation for this bumpy ride?"

I'm acting on instructions direct from the throne," Kate almost promised.

A tall, brunette woman, named Osgood, dressed in a beige jacket with a familiar long, colorful scarf walked up to them and pulled out a sealed letter with red wax. Kate took it and handed it over to Minerva.

"Sealed orders from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the First."

"That can't be right," Minerva returned to the Doctor's side. "She hates us."

"The Queen?" Liv curiously asked.

"She's left her credentials inside," Kate gestured to be followed.

"But I thought…" Minerva held up the partially opened letter.

"No. Inside…" Kate pointed to the National Gallery behind them. Confused, Minerva followed first.

"Nice scarf," commented the Doctor on passing the brunette woman.

"What's our cover story for this?" Kate beckoned the woman to follow quick.

"Um, Derren Brown…?"

"Again?"

"Oh, we've sent him flowers!"

~ 0 ~

As the group entered the gallery, Liv was popping in from one place to another, looking at several of the paintings. "Oh. I was there for that one! And that one!" she kept pointing at several paintings she appreciate in front of.

"When!?" Clara arched an eyebrow.

"What did you think I did while you were asleep?"

"Uh, wait for me to wake up like a good imaginary friend would?"

Liv's wide smirk told her that was not what happened. With a pop, Liv disappeared again.

"So what exactly is all this?" Clara moved on up to the Doctor.

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce," the Time Lord promptly replied.

"Sorry?"

"This lot. UNIT. They investigate alien stuff, anything alien."

"What, like you?"

"I work for them."

Clara's mouth fell open. "You have a job?!"

Minerva snickered from ahead and pretended to be focusing on Elias on her hip.

"Why shouldn't I have a job?" the Doctor frowned at them all. "I'd be brilliant at having a job."

"Let's not go down that road, dear," Minerva toggled with Elias' hand.

"But-"

"You just stick to your one brilliant job of being a father and the world might just survive!"

"But Minerva-"

"Hush now," Minerva sing-sang as they came to a stop in front of large, covered frame.

"Mommy," Elias fussed as he pushed himself forwards, intending on reaching the frame.

"You wanna see what it is? Fine, but you have to walk then." Minerva bargained and set him on the floor. "Go on now."

Elias sat himself upright with a frown that made the others chuckle. That clearly had not been what he wanted. So instead, he started crawling towards the frame, ignoring his mother's pleads to just try and walk.

Eventually, two soldiers walked up to either side of the frame and yanked the red tarp to reveal a 3D futuristic city as a painting.

"Elizabeth's credentials, Doctor," Kate repeated after a moment.

The Doctor came up to stand beside Minerva, both gaping entirely.

"Woah…" Liv had popped in again wearing a similar surprised look as Clara.

The Doctor scanned the frame from every inch, finding it's peculiar title at the bottom. "No more."

"That's the title," Kate nodded.

"I know the title!"

"Also known as Gallifrey Falls."

"This painting doesn't belong here - not in this time or place," Minerva said quietly.

"It's the fall of Arcadia, Gallifrey's second city," the Doctor could not tear his eyes from what he was seeing.

"But how is it doing that?" Clara walked up to the frame, minding Elias' small hands on the floor. Even he had stopped to stare at the big picture. "How is that possible? It's an oil painting... in 3D."

"It's Time Lord art," the Doctor said like it should have been obvious to her. "Bigger on the inside. A slice of real time... frozen."

"Elizabeth told us where to find it...and its significance," Kate explained.

"And exactly how was she supposed have this?" Liv pondered out loud, turning her head, her long blonde hair swinging with her as she looked at the alien pair.

The Doctor reached for Minerva's hand. "He was there," he mumbled, but Minerva heard him perfectly.

"Who was?" she curiously looked at him.

"Me. The other me," he replied slowly, barely coming to terms with it himself. "The one I don't talk about."

Minerva's eyes drifted to the painting, recalling snapshots of that awful period. "Come to think about, yeah," she whispered, "There's one...one of you...I've never seen nor…" Because during the Time War, there was one incarnation of the Doctor she never got to see before she suffered her first death.

"Because I don't admit to all of them," the Doctor's voice lowered, "Because I've tried so very hard to forget it. He was the Doctor who fought in the Time War, and that was the day he did it - the day I did it. The day he killed them all. The last day of the Time War. The war to end all wars between my people and the Daleks. And in that battle, there was a man with more blood on his hands than any other. A man who would commit a crime that would silence the universe, and that man...was me."

~ 0 ~

A long time ago...

The War Doctor, ragged and overwhelmingly tired, walked across a long, lonesome desert with only a bag slung across him. He had a destination to make, a bitter one but fitting for the end of it all. Making it into a barn, he found leaves and debris strewn all over the floor, along with other larger pieces of junk. He took off the bag and untied it, pulling out an intricately ornate box. Really having no clue how to activate it, he pressed the first gear he saw.

"How... how do you work?" he wondered as it did nothing in response. "Why is there never a big red button?" at the sound of scuffling outside, he left the box to go investigate. 'Hello? Is somebody there?"

"It's nothing," a soft voice suddenly rang in the room. The War Doctor froze, not daring to confirm the voice of the woman. "Well, aren't you going to look at me?" the voice called again, not an ounce of impatience in her tone. "It's rude to leave a woman waiting I've heard."

The War Doctor willed himself to turn and when he did he wished he hadn't. In fact, he wished he would have activated the Moment instantly so that he would never have to face _her_ again.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" the curly-haired woman asked so nonchalantly, like she wasn't currently sitting on top of the most dangerous weapon in the universe.

"It's not possible," the War Doctor finally said something, his words spread out between breaths.

The woman turned her head to the door, her sparkly blue eyes thinking. "Why did you park so far away? Didn't you want her to see it?"

"Want who to see?" the War Doctor asked.

"The TARDIS," the woman rose up to her feet, her silver gown draping over the box enough to cover it. "You walked for miles. And miles and miles and miles and miles."

"I was thinking!"

"I heard you."

"You heard me?"

"No...more. No more. No more," the woman sighed. "It's so tiring isn't it? It's like - quit looking at me like that!"

The War Doctor blinked rapidly, and shouted. "You're not really here! You're just a...a mirage! Go away!" Behind her, he could hear clicking from underneath her gown. The Moment was beginning to activate. "It's activating!" The woman calmly grabbed the side of her gown and stepped aside. The War Doctor cautiously went up to it, laying only a finger on it before getting burned. "Ow!"

"What's wrong?"

"The interface is hot."

The woman gave a mirthful laugh and let her gown fall again. "Well, I do my best. Although this current body is quite…" she shivered, "... _cold_."

"There's a power source inside…" the War Doctor trailed off as her words registered in his head. He glanced back, somewhat relieved yet still horrified...and angry. "You're the Interface?"

"They must have told you the Moment had a conscience. Hello!" the woman waved. "Oh, look at you. Stuck between a girl and a box. Story of your life, eh, Doctor?"

"You stop using her image right now," the War Doctor marched right up the Interface. "Respect her - she's dead-"

"Mm, yes and no, but we won't go into details," the Interface smiled. "I chose this face and form especially for you. It's from your past," her smile faded as she thought more. "Or possibly your future - I always get those two mixed up."

"Past," the War Doctor muttered, tearing his eyes from her. "She is my past, and she is _gone_."

The Interfaced ignored him as she resolved her confusion. "I think I'm called...Min...no," she paused, "Not that one. Yes, sorry, in this form I'm called... Princess Kaeya." Still, the War Doctor did not turn back. "Are you afraid of the Moon princess, Doctor?"

"Get out!" he ordered. "Stop insulting her, stop using her image, and just _leave_."

"Why so upset, Doctor?"

"And stop calling me Doctor."

"But that's the name in your head."

"It shouldn't be," the War Doctor shook his head. "I've been fighting this war for a very long time - I've lost the right to be the Doctor."

"Then you're the one to save us all."

"Yes."

"If I ever develop an ego, you've got the job."

The War Doctor did not find her remarks as amusing she did. It was another offence against her image. "If you have been inside my head... then you know what I've seen. The suffering. Every moment in time and space is burning. People have died - _she_ has died. It must end now. And I intend to end it the only way I can."

"And you're going to use me to end it by killing them all," the Interface said quietly. "Daleks and Time Lords alike. I could, but there will be consequences for you."

"I have no desire to survive this."

Without his family, without Kaeya, why would he want to survive?

The Interface flashed away and reappeared sitting on a high crate, looking pensive. "Then, I'm afraid, that shall be your punishment. If you do this - if you kill them all - then that's the consequence. _You_...live. Gallifrey... you're going to burn it... and all those Daleks with it but all those children too. How many children are on Gallifrey right now?"

The War Doctor looked down. "I don't know."

"But one day you will," the Moment said kindly. "Because one day you will count them all. One terrible night. Do you want to see what that will turn you into?" When the man said no answer, she sighed. "I'm a curious girl - at least this one is," she gestured to her image. "I would love to see. Won't you let us see?"

Unknowingly, or perhaps knowingly, her pleading smile worked like a charm. No matter what incarnation, the Doctor was always ready to fulfill any of his Kaeya's requests. The War Doctor walked over to the high crate and sat beside her. With a wide smile, she looked up like she would find the sky. Instead, a whirling vortex appeared.

"I'm opening windows of your future. A tangle in time through the days to come, to the man today will make of you," she explained.

But all that came out was a red fez that toppled onto the ground.

Confused, the Moment leaned forwards to examine the object. "You know, I would say that I wasn't expecting that but...somehow, I feel this princess wouldn't say that."

~ 0 ~

"But the Time War's over. Why have you brought us here to look at a painting?" Minerva demanded of Kate, rather upset herself they were practically being flung the worst of the Doctor's memories right onto their faces.

"The painting only serves as Elizabeth's credentials, proof that the letter is from her," Kate explained her reasons. "It's not why you're here."

"Then can we get to the point already?" she inadvertently snapped.

Liv popped in beside her, leaning closer to Minerva. "I'm no genius, but maybe opening the letter would help." Minerva threw her a look that made Liv retract a couple steps. "Fine, I'll go help Clara with Elias." She disappeared to reappear several feet away from them where Clara was entertaining Elias with his favorite teddy bear, Roger.

Minerva and the Doctor finally focused on the letter left behind by Queen Elizabeth.

 _'My dearest love, I hope the painting known as Gallifrey Falls will serve as proof that it is **your** Elizabeth who writes to you now. You will recall that you pledged yourself to the safety of my kingdom. In this capacity, I have appointed you as curator of the Under Gallery where deadly danger to England is locked away. Should any disturbance occur within its walls, it is my wish that you be summoned. God speed, gentle husband.'_

"Yes, now I think I'm going to finally kill you," Minerva didn't wait for a response before chucking the letter behind and turning to the Doctor with a deadly look and crossed arms. "So I share husbands now?"

"I don't even _know_ what that letter means!" the Doctor waved his hands wildly. "You've been there when she ordered my head off!"

"You're on dangerous territory, Martian," Minerva scrunched her nose and walked away.

Kate led them all out of the gallery and towards another room sealed off by a metal door. Upon entering, they found a large sized portrait hanging against the wall. It's subjects were a bit peculiar.

It was none other than Queen Elizabeth the First with the Doctor's previous incarnation.

"I'm gonna kill you," Minerva declared so plainly like it was another casual conversation between her and the Doctor. "I'm just gonna ice you down you little-"

"Hey!" the Doctor turned to her with a pointed finger. "Whatever happened to that whole 'innocent until proven guilty' thing?"

"Proven guilty!" Minerva waved towards the painting. "I don't need to be Sherlock to figure it out! I'm just going to kill you!"

"Maybe it's time we led them to the actual mystery," Liv popped in beside Kate, the blonde human gasping lightly but soon agreeing it was for the better to get things moving.

Kate revealed that the painting led into a secret, dark passageway behind. The moment she entered the passage, lights flickered on.

"Ayowee," Elias lightly gasped at the covered statues in alcoves that lined the walls. He covered his eyes with his small hands.

"It's not Halloween, Elias," Clara mused in amusement.

"Yes…" Elias insisted, then added with a cheeky smile, eyes still covered, "...Ca-yah."

Clara mocked a glare at him. He apparently found it much more fun to purposely mispronounce her name as "Cah-yah". Out of everyone Clara was sure her name was the easiest to say yet the toddler refused to even _try_ to say it right.

"Welcome to the Under Gallery," Kate gestured with open arms. "This is where Elizabeth I kept all art deemed too dangerous for public consumption."

"What is this?" Minerva had stopped to investigate the floor covered with sand.

The Doctor, inches beside her, bent down and scooped up some of the sand, letting it then run through his fingers. "Stone dust," he concluded.

Kate eyed the man curiously. "Is it important?"

"In 1,200 years, I've never stepped in anything that wasn't," the Doctor straightened and spotted Osgood standing by the threshold. "Oi, you! Are you sciencey?"

"Oh, erm. Well, erm...yes," the woman fixed her glasses and stepped into the room.

"Got a name?"

"Yes."

"Good, I've always wanted to meet someone called 'Yes'-"

Minerva elbowed him on the ribs and stepped around him. "What he means to say is what's your name?"

"Oh, um, Osgood," the woman nervously answered.

"Okay then, Osgood, would you mind having this dust analyzed?"

"No, not at all," Osgood smiled still rather anxiously.

"Excellent," Minerva beamed and urged her off to the task.

Osgood wheezed as she turned away, provoking Kate to calmly remind her to use her inhaler. Kate then led then group into a hallway filled with numerous paintings. Liv once again popped in and out gazing at different artworks. On passing several glass cases, Kate turned for a different hallway. Clara, holding Elias, and Liv followed right behind. Minerva would have done the same if she hasn't spotted her husband backtracking several steps with his mouth going "ooh" silently. With a shake of her head, she returned as well to the chosen glass case. He had already pulled out the red Fez from the case and placed on his head.

"Someday, you could just walk _past_ a fez, you know," Minerva sighed.

"Never going to happen," the Doctor promptly shook his head.

"I'm starting to think maybe sharing husbands won't be that bad…"

"Oi!" the Doctor frowned. "You're being quite rude to me today you know."

Minerva laughed and walked up to him, placing her hands on his chest. "I guess I am, huh?"

"Yes!"

"I apologize for that, my Martian," she leaned on her toes and kissed him. "I just don't like the fact that this Queen is calling you _her_ husband when you know, and everyone else knows, that you are _my_ husband and _only_ mine."

"Your guess is as good as mine," the Doctor shrugged, leaning down and kissing her again.

"You really don't remember meeting her? Maybe when I wasn't around?" Minerva could tell he was honestly trying to remember things.

He shook his head and gave her that look when he was lost for words. "Bits, tiny, tiny bits. But it's scrambled, fuzzy even."

"Then we need to discover why they're scrambled and fuzzy," Minerva pecked his lips and grabbed his hand. "Because absolutely no one is taking my husband away!"

When they caught up with Kate and the others, they stumbled over broken shards of glass on the floor.

"This is why we called you in," Kate said to them after rejoining.

"It's 3D again, look," Clara pointed to them nearest painting on the wall. Sure enough, Minerva and the Doctor realized all the paintings on the wall were 3D.

"Interesting…" the Doctor hummed as he took another look around.

"The broken glass?" Liv appeared beside him, curiously tilting her head.

"No... where it's broken from," the Doctor gestured before picking up a piece. "Look at the shatter pattern. The glass on all these paintings has been broken from the _inside_."

"Hey!" Minerva scolded him after he carelessly chucked the glass piece over his shoulder.

"As you can see, all the paintings are landscapes - no figures of any kind," Kate cautiously stepped over the shards of glass.

"And what's the problem?" Minerva arched an eyebrow.

"There _used_ to be." Kate walked up to them holding a tablet she'd taken from one of the scientists in the room. She showed them the pictures of the paintings that held _figures_ inside.

"Wicked," both Clara and Liv breathed in awe at the same time. They exchanged looks and smiled - they had felt the same bemused emotion.

"So-" Minerva walked over to Clara and promptly took her son back into her arms, "-something's got out of the paintings." She no longer felt Elias safe unless he was with her or the Doctor.

"Lots of somethings. Dangerous," added the Doctor.

Kate sighed, nodding her head. "This whole place has been searched. There's nothing here that shouldn't be, and nothing's got out."

Suddenly, wind swept over their heads. All of them looked up to see a swirling vortex appearing out of nowhere.

"Oh, no! Not _now_!" the Doctor groaned, scrunching his nose.

"What is it, dear?" Minerva stepped closer to him, glancing from him to the fissure in confusion.

"Remember those scrambled memories?"

"Aha?"

"I think they're becoming a little clearer."

"Oh, that's great!"

The Doctor's eyes swiveled up to his red fez and snatched it off. "Oh, of course! This is where I come in!"

"Come in where?" Minerva repeated, her face matching the rest of the confused women behind her.

"I'll be back, love," the Doctor said, rather excitedly, as he put himself in a stance to run after throwing the Fez into the fissure. "Geronimo!" and he charged towards the fissure.

"Onimo! Onimo!" Elias frantically pushed himself forwards in Minerva's arm, wanting to follow after his father. "Mommy, Onimo! Onimo!"

"YOU IDIOT!" Minerva was busy screaming after her husband who had jumped straight into the fissure and disappeared.

"Don't worry, Minerva," Liv walked forwards, quite calmly as she stared at the fissure. "I think I can follow."

"Liv, don't you dare," Clara stepped forwards. Liv glanced back with a wide smirk. "Liv-" Liv waved and walked straight into the fissure.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor had landed face first onto a mushy grass ground, surrounded by trees...among other things.

"Who is this man?" a chirpy female asked in a rather demanding voice.

The Doctor had pulled himself up to come face to face with his previous incarnation. The tenth Doctor, who had retrieved the red fez and put it over his head, was staring wide-eyed at him. Behind him stood a curly, ginger-haired woman dressed in an orange royal gown.

"That's just what I was wondering," Ten said quietly.

"Oh, that _is_ skinny," Eleven was busy staring at his previous self. "That is proper skinny! I've never seen it from the outside! It's like a special effect - oi!" he frowned and marched up to Ten, swiping the fez off his face. "Matchstick Man!"

"You're not…" Ten began, wheels turning in his mind.

Eleven smirked and reached into his jacket pocket's to pull out his sonic, Ten following to do the same...when he sighed after coming up empty-handed.

"Dammit, I gave it to…"

"DOCTOR!" a very familiar voice shouted from a distance.

"Doctor!" went a second, also familiar, voice.

"I'm gonna kill him! This time, I'm gonna kill him!"

"Ooh," Eleven straightened up with a wide smile, fixing his jacket as the voices grew closer. He knew exactly who the first voice was and he was itching to see her again...all humany wumany…

"There you are!" a very red-faced Minerva, in her human appearance (and thus second incarnation) stepped around a tree. Her long, straight, brown hair moved side to side as she marched towards the group of people. She was dressed for the period in a dark colored purple gown with long sleeves and, frankly, a low cut chest neckline. Jade-green eyes were narrowing at the tenth Doctor while her hand gripped his familiar sonic screwdriver. "I hate this place!"

"Make that _two_ ," Martha Jones huffed as she removed a piece of twig from her bunned up hair. Her red velvet, three-quarter gown matched Minerva's face at the moment.

"I want to leave!" Minerva stomped her foot and pushed her hair back. "Do you know those stupid soldiers and Lord Bentham actually chased Martha and I out of the stupid castle because their _stupid_ _Queen_ who was actually another stupid Zygon-"

"Who are you calling stupid?" the Queen in question cut in with a very offended face.

" _You_ clearly," Martha snickered as she joined them.

Minerva's face turned a brighter shade of red at her discretion and cleared her throat. "Here," she tossed the screwdriver back to Ten. "I pushed what you told me to push and it got us to you." It was then that she noticed the eleventh Doctor standing behind her Doctor, and his awed look told her something she apparently wasn't in the know of. "Who's that?" she pointed at him.

"U-uh, well, we think...well…" Ten glanced at his older self, suddenly nervous.

Eleven simply displayed his own sonic screwdriver at her, specifically _for_ her. Her curious look made him want to do it, and keep doing it.

"O-oh, is that...oh my God! Wait!" Minerva scrambled to retrieve Ten's screwdriver.

"Hey-"

She ignored his refusal as she snatched it back and stepped forwards. "Can I, Doctor, please?" she asked her own, far kinder and softer.

Eleven was quite at home watching how his younger self succumbed to their Minerva's request.

"Please?" Minerva asked softly again, glancing back at Ten.

With a small sigh, he nodded. "Go ahead."

She beamed and looked at the Eleven then. She stepped closer again, holding out the screwdriver. "L-like this?" she asked him.

Eleven nodded at her, encouraging her to come closer. Remembering what her Doctor told her of the sonic, she pressed the button that would activate its blue tip light. Eleven chuckled and activated his, although being much more modern his opened up to reveal the center green light.

"Wooow," Minerva lowered the sonic in her hand, completely awed. "You _are_ him." She was getting reminders of the desert where she had once seen a floppy haired man coming out of a crashed TARDIS. Oh, that was _him_!

"They match your eyes, see?" Eleven gestured. "Beautiful."

Minerva visibly blushed. Ten deeply scowled and walked up to them. "Alright, alright," he pulled Minerva behind him. "It's regeneration - a lottery."

Eleven rolled his eyes, ignoring the brief flash of jealousy in his younger self's eyes. "Oh, he's cool. Isn't he cool? 'I'm the Doctor and I'm all cool' Oops, I'm wearing sandshoes!"

"So it's really like another you?" Martha was still eyeing Eleven, before chuckling. "Why am I not surprised? See Minerva? I told you he'd continue being a dork beyond the years."

"Martha!" Minerva turned on her friend, hiding her smile on the verge of laughter.

At the same time, Liv walked right up beside Eleven. "Where the hell are we?"

He, fully panicked then, urged her to go away before Minerva - and even his younger self who'd turn to bicker with Martha - saw her. "Go! Disappear! Your sister's here!" he whisper-shouted at her.

"What?" Liv scowled and looked ahead, gasping in horror at the sight of Minerva's younger self. "Yowzah!" she shut her eyes and flickered out of appearance from anyone but Eleven's eyes.

"Stop arguing, I order you to!" one of the Elizabeth's said.

"No, _I_ order you to stop arguing!"

Martha turned on them both, clearly agitated by their presence overall. "How about _both_ of you shut up!?"

"I hate this place, Doctor," Minerva crossed her arms. "Can we go home?"

"No, not yet, we went over this, Minerva," Ten said to her calmly.

"Well I wanna go home! This place is nothing but trouble!"

"She's right, you know," Martha strolled past the Elizabeths, "On one of their orders we were nearly killed."

"You're from the future," Minerva looked to Eleven, "You tell us which one's the Zygon so we can go home."

"How about you tell me which one tried killing you and we can settle this right now?" Eleven was frowning at both ginger haired Queens. There was something dark in his eyes at his younger self noticed.

" _I_ am taking care of it," snapped Ten. Why was he being so close and protective to _his_ Minerva? Now that he thought about it, where was the future Minerva? Because...because they were still travelling together, right? They had to be.

"By _snogging_ her," Minerva huffed, arms crossed with a deep frown across her face.

"You snogged her?" Liv was now turning on Eleven, also irritated. "Oh, wait till my sister hears about - wait a minute, why can't she remember if she was clearly here?"

"What are you doing here?" Ten glowered at his older self. "I'm busy."

"Snogging Queens?" Eleven smiled to himself. "Story of my life…"

"You snog Queens in the future too?" came Minerva's, clearly upset, question. She shouldn't be upset by this, she thought. What was she thinking anyways? He was the Doctor, afterall, like he would ever lay eyes on a normal human being like her.

"W-well," Eleven fidgeted under her despondent gaze on him, clearly hurt. Thankfully, he didn't have to answer as another fissure opened above them. He turned on the spot and pulled out Amy Pond's old round-glasses over his eyes.

Ten did the same as he placed on his thick rimmed black glasses. When they noticed each other's look, they smiled.

"Oh, lovely!"

The eleventh Doctor pulled off his own for a moment and turned towards the women. "Your Majesties, probably a good time to run. You too Minerva, Martha."

"But what about the creature?" one Elizabeth inquired.

Ten glanced back. "Elizabeth, whichever one of you is the real one, turn and run in the opposite direction to the other one."

"Of course, my love!" went both Queens.

One of them ran up to him. "Stay alive, my love. I am not done with you yet." She grabbed either side of his face and kissed him.

Minerva's eyes narrowed again, looking so helpless yet full of anger. Martha grabbed her arm to keep her in place.

When the first Elizabeth pulled away, Ten stumbled a bit, uttering a 'thanks' under his breath while she ran off.

Of course, then came the second Elizabeth who would prove she was the real Queen as well. "I understand. Live for me, my darling. We shall be together again."

"Eugh, if I could, I would smack you," Liv remarked with arms crossed, glancing at Eleven after the second Elizabeth had ran off. "Oh wait," she smacked him upside the head.

To Minerva and Martha, it looked rather weird seeing his head suddenly jerk forwards. "Are you okay?" Minerva asked him.

"Yes, yes, fine," the Doctor cleared his throat, wishing he could throw a glare to Liv who was having herself a good laugh.

Martha grimaced as the second Elizabeth ran off into the forest. "You do realize one of them was a Zygon, yeah?"

Ten gave a solemn nod. "Yeah."

"And you said it was like this big red rubbery thing? Covered in suckers?"

"Yeah."

"Venom sacs in the tongue?"

"Yeah, I'm getting the point-"

Martha scoffed, her eyes widening as she teasingly laughed. "I don't think you are. You just kissed a monster _twice_."

"Thank you Martha," Ten gave her a look that said to stop talking.

"Martha, stop it," Minerva weakly ordered, although having fun watching him flush. Served him right for the stupid plan he'd gotten themselves into.

The plan was simple, catch the Zygon pretending to be Queen Elizabeth and then be on their way. He promised her and Martha adventure filled trips after their incident with the Weeping Angels that had them stuck in the past for months. Truth be told, she just wanted a trip that would lead them to a nice solitary spot where she could have a word with the Doctor alone. She hadn't forgotten that surprise kiss he planted on her while she was 'sleeping' and she was gonna discover why he did that if it was the last thing she did.

"Doctor? Is that you?" Eleven heard _his_ Minerva calling for him from above. "I swear to God you better have not gotten yourself into trouble!"

"Ah!" Elias sounded upset.

The Doctor chuckled and looked up. "Hello Min…" Oh, he didn't exactly know how to address his wife in front of, well, his other wife. There had to be something else he could call her in the meantime. Everyone had the right to expose themselves to their older or younger selves, and no matter how much he would want to do it it was only a right reserved for Minerva.

"Doctor? Are you there?" the older Minerva's voice grew louder, and a tad more concerned.

"Hello...M-Moonie!" the Doctor exclaimed, now grinning for being so clever on the spot.

"Moonie?" she repeated. "What the hell you calling me that for? And where are you? Elias is getting restless over here trying to follow you to wherever it is you went to."

"Grouchy," Martha muttered to Minerva and Ten.

"Doctor, where are you!?"

"England 1562!" Ten was the one to respond.

"...who are you talking to?"

"Myself," both Doctors responded carelessly.

"Can you come back through?"

"Physical passage may not be possible in both directions," Eleven warned her. "It's... Ah! Hang on! Fez incoming!" he chucked the red fez into the fissure and waited a couple moments.

"Great, now Elias is expecting a red fez to play with and it's not here!" the older Minerva exclaimed.

"So where'd it go?" Ten looked at his counterpart, both curious.

"This is pointless," Minerva, the human, stepped forwards, looking at Eleven. "You're from the future, can't you tell us what happens next?"

"I...don't remember," hw frowned.

"How can you forge this!?" his younger self demanded.

"Well, maybe you have to pay closer attention to things," Minerva answered matter-of-factly.

"Don't defend him!"

"Oi, don't yell at her!" went Eleven.

"How about all of you shut up?" Martha flapped her hands. "My God, the two of you together is just gonna be a nightmare, I can tell."

"Reverse the polarity," Eleven told himself and pulled out his sonic.

"Here," Minerva handed her Doctor his sonic, somewhat glumly.

"I didn't mean to yell at you," he told her earnestly.

"I know," she crookedly smiled.

He smiled back and walked up beside his older self, both pointing up their screwdrivers at the fissure.

"It's not working," Ten frowned.

"Yes, I know that," Eleven rolled his eyes.

"There's two of us - I'm reversing it, and you're reversing it back again! We're _confusing_ the polarity."

"Here we go again," Martha mumbled to Minerva, getting ready for another argument. Minerva sighed and walked towards the two Time Lords again.

However, a loud whooshing noise cut off any argument before it occurred. A third person had dropped in from the fissure - the War Doctor - and had landed on his feet, holding the fez Eleven had thrown in moments ago.

"Anyone lose a fez?" he waved it at the two other Time Lords.

"You…" Ten said, the hint of disdain in his voice not unnoticed by Minerva behind. "How can you be here? More to the point, _why_ are you here?"

"Good afternoon. I'm...looking for the Doctor," the War Doctor greeted so kindly it wouldn't even look like he was about to commit the worst act possible.

"You've come to the right place, definitely," Minerva piped up, smiling widely, making both the tenth and eleventh Doctors realize she was right behind them again. "I wonder what would happen if all those little swirly things-"

"Vortex," Eleven corrected her without removing his eyes on the War Doctor.

"Oh yes, thank you," she said before continuing, "I wonder what would happen if each of those vortex things have opened up in front of other Doctors. Can that happen Doctor? I mean that to _my_ Doc-" she caught herself midway and blushed terribly.

"Right," the War Doctor eyed the red-faced, young woman. "Well," he directed his words to the two men, one of them matching the woman's red-face, "who are you boys?"

Without his notice, Liv was making rounds on him, studying him closely. "Doctor, Doctor, do you mean to tell me this is yet another you?" Eleven flatly ignored her. "Clara and I never saw this one."

"Oh, of course!" the War Doctor laughed as it dawned on him. "Are you his companions?"

"His companions?" Eleven gaped indignantly.

"They get younger all the time!"

"To be fair we are _adults_ ," Martha clarified with a huff as she gestured to herself then pointed at Minerva.

"Yeah," Minerva agreed with a nod. "It was my 18th birthday last week."

Those words were like music to Eleven's ears. With a wide, knowing grin, he glanced back at her. "It was your birthday?" she nodded, smiling as well. He then spotted the newly given silver necklace with a pendant, boring the Gallifreyan version of her name on it. "Brilliant," he concluded and discreetly winked at Ten, who turned bright red again.

"Well, if you could point me in the general direction of the Doctor…" the War Doctor trailed off when both men raised their sonic screwdrivers.

It hit him.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Eleven said in a mutter.

"Really," added the Tenth.

"You're me? Both of you?"

"Yep."

"...even that one?" the War Doctor jerked a thumb over to Eleven.

"Yes!" he went, very indignant.

"You're my future selves?"

"Yes!" went both older Doctors.

"Am I having a mid-life crisis?"

Martha cleared her throat to make her presence known. "If you ask me I think it's because you wanted to look young for a special someone-"

Minerva had enough embarrassment for one moment and cut Martha off. "Don't listen to her. But it's peculiar," she meant to move closer to him only to have both the tenth and eleventh Doctors grab each of her arms to pull her back so that she stayed behind them. "What are you doing?" she frowned as both then aimed their screwdrivers at the War Doctor.

"Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that?" the War Doctor asked, bemused. "They're scientific instruments, not water pistols. Look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Stop being rude!" Minerva pushed her way forwards again, giving each older Doctor a mini-glare.

"Still...loving the posh, gravelly thing. It's very convincing," Ten said, discreetly bringing Minerva closer to him. With two of himself around, one could only imagine the danger that would be coming with them.

"Brave words, Dick Van Dyke," Eleven pointed at him.

"Encircle them!" cried a man, Bentham, who had found the group feet away from Martha.

"Ah!" Martha yelped, startled as she turned around to see the soldiers coming for them.

Ten yanked Minerva to his side, beckoning Martha to get closer as well. Eventually, the group stood in a huddle, encircled by several soldiers with aimed pikes at them.

"He's the one that tried killing us," Minerva pointed at the man leading the soldiers. Ten sent the man a death glare - it would not be staying like that he knew.

"Which of you is the Doctor?" Bentham demanded. "The Queen of England is bewitched. I would have the Doctor's head."

Liv popped in behind him. "You would do well not to scare my sister," she pushed the man forwards, knocking him to the ground. The eleventh Doctor sent her a grateful look, but the sudden collapse of their man put the soldiers even more on edge.

"Which one is the Doctor!?"

"Sorry, I don't think I can do it again," Liv apologized to Eleven, looking at her hands in disappointment. She was able to touch and feel more but it came and it went, albeit stronger than before she had crossed the Doctor's timeline.

"I don't think pointing your screwdrivers is going to do much right now," Minerva told the two older Doctors with a resigned sigh.

"She's right," the War Doctor agreed, "What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?"

Seeing they were both right, the two oldest Doctors lowered the screwdrivers.

"That thing...what witchcraft is it?" Bentham asked after getting back on his feet.

"Ah, yes! Now that you mention it, that is witchcraft, yes, yes, yes. Witchy-witchcraft," Eleven clapped his hands together as he walked a little closer to the fissure and spoke up to it. "Hello? Hello in there? Excuse me. Hello! Am I talking to the wicked witch of the well?"

~ 0 ~

Back in the Gallery, Minerva's scowl was growing impossibly deeper.

"He means you, I think…" Clara was making a dreadful face. The Doctor was just itching to actually get killed today, wasn't he?

"Oh, he better not be," Minerva shook her head.

"Moonie?" the Doctor called.

"There you go again - what's going on over there?" Minerva demanded.

"Moonie, hi, hello. Hello. Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?"

"What he said," Minerva carelessly said back. Elias was still fussing to be put down so that he could reach the fissure on his own. It sounded like his Daddy was having a lot of fun and here he was, all alone with the girls.

"Yes, tiny bit more color."

"What do I look like? The wicked witch of the west?"

"Moonie, _please_?"

Minerva took in a big breath and finally obeyed. "Prattling mortals, off you pop or I'll turn all of you into ugly frogs."

~ 0 ~

"Oh, frogs, nice," Eleven looked at the afraid soldiers. "You heard her."

"Doctor, what's going on?" his Minerva demanded yet again.

"It's a...timey-wimey thing," he looked over to Liv for some additional help.

"Timey...what?" the War Doctor had tried understanding but failed miserably. "Timey-wimey?"

"I've no idea where he picks that stuff up," Ten innocently remarked.

The younger Minerva scoffed. "Are we really going with _that_ monumental _lie_?"

Elizabeth gracefully walked into the clearing, enacting all soldiers to kneel down before her.

"I'm not doing it," Minerva muttered, perfectly heard by Martha.

The woman snickered and whispered, "Try your best not to show your jealousy."

"Shut up!"

Elizabeth smiled until she saw the group still standing. "You don't seem to be kneeling. How tremendously brave of you."

Ten eyed her suspiciously. "Which one are you? What happened to the other one?"

"Indisposed. Long live the Queen!"

"Long live the Queen!" the soldiers chanted after.

"Arrest them all," Elizabeth gestured to the group. "Take them to the Tower."

Ten pointed violently at her. "That is not the Queen of England - that's an alien duplicate!"

"And you can take it from him, cos he's really checked," Minerva had meant to think that silently but had inadvertently said it out loud.

Liv had laughed, and unknowingly, so had Clara back in the Gallery, the latter earning herself confused and concerned looks from the older Minerva and Kate. Clara clapped a hand over her mouth and looked away with widened eyes, wondering where the hell that had come from.

The human Minerva was sporting a tremendous blush again while Ten, seeming mortified, gave her a long look.

"No, hang on, the Tower! Did you say the Tower?" Eleven had stepped in, partially for their own well being, and because now he understood Martha's painful talks of awkwardness from when he and Minerva were 'wasting time' in admitting their feelings for each other. "Ah, yes, brilliant, love the Tower. Breakfast at eight, please. Will there Wi-Fi?"

The War Doctor had watched him gesture nearly everything he said in that small speech. "Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?"

"Yes!" Eleven said but then clapped his hands anyways. "No!" He shifted to face Elizabeth. "I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my co-conspirators, Sandshoes and Grandad! And the lovely Miss Clever Girl-" he winked at Minerva who turned a shade of pink, while Ten glared at him, "-and Dr. Jones."

"Grandad?" the War Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"They're not sandshoes," added Ten.

"Yes, they are!" the War Doctor told him.

"How come my codename is so simple?" Martha pouted.

"You suck at giving codenames," Liv remarked to Eleven.

"Silence!" Elizabeth shouted over everyone else. "The Tower is not to be taken lightly. Very few emerge again."

~ 0 ~

Minerva clicked her tongue, unable to decide what was more confusing at the moment. "I am going to need to meet this woman who thinks she can talk to my husband that way."

"Go!" Elias grunted in vain as he reached towards the fissure.

"Dear God, that man's clever. Come on!" Kate turned to leave the room.

"Where are we going?" Clara asked, following after Minerva who she assumed already knew the purpose of their departure seeing she hadn't said anything.

"My office," Kate replied. "Otherwise known as the Tower of London."

~ 0 ~

"This place isn't that bad for a jail," Liv popped into the small room just seconds before the three Doctors, Minerva and Martha were pushed in by the jailers. The blonde turned around to greet Eleven. "How are we gonna get out?"

"Go find Minerva and Clara," he mumbled under his breath upon passing her, preferring not to disclose her presence to the others. He grabbed a long nail from the ground and examined it a second, flicked his finger against it then walked up to a wall and began scraping on it.

"How is that gonna get you out?" Liv stared at him, confused. "At least do something productive like your other self over there," she jerked a thumb towards the War Doctor sonicking the wooden door.

"Go," hissed Eleven, earning himself an odd look from Martha.

"Three of us in one cell - that's going to cause some nasty anomalies if we don't get out soon," Ten remarked with a distasteful look as he examined their new jail room.

Minerva, in turn, watched Eleven scratching on the wall with the nail he'd picked up. "What are you doing?"

"Getting us out," he shrugged.

"The sonic won't work on that," Ten called to the War Doctor who was sonicking the door. "It's too primitive."

As the War Doctor stopped and turned around, Eleven bitterly laughed. "Shall we ask for a better quality of door so we can escape?"

"Why are you rude to yourself?" Martha wondered out loud, eyes flickering from one Doctor to the next.

"I'd like to know that too," Minerva crossed her arms, although specifically looking at Ten.

Ten looked away from her and addressed his other selves. "OK, so the Queen of England is now a Zygon, but never mind that, why are we all together? Why are we all here?" he paused a moment, "Well, me and...Chinny, we were surprised. But you came looking for us - you knew it was going to happen. Who told you?"

"Oi!" Eleven threw a glare. "Chinny?"

"Yeah, you do have a chin," Ten shrugged, ignoring him afterwards.

~ 0 ~

A black car pulled into the courtyard and inside, in the back, were Minerva, Clara and Kate. Elias was in his mother's lap, no longer fixated on the fissure as he played with his teddy bear Roger.

"The Doctor will be trying to send us a message," Kate was saying into her cellphone. The Tower of London turned out to be her office and so they needed to see whatever message it was the Doctor was planning on leaving. "We're looking for a string of numerals from around 1550, approximately - priority one." When the windows of the car lowered she called to the security waiting. "I'm going to need access to the Black Archive."

Minerva silently turned her head at the blonde - she knew exactly what that room was for and there was no way in hell Kate Stewart would allow _her_ inside no matter the problem. She brought Elias closer to her, eyes flickering away from Kate who continued talking.

~ 0 ~

The Black Archive was an underground room that was under, unbelievably, lock by a human key and lock system.

"Highest security rating on the planet," Kate explained as she led the two women down a metal corridor. "The entire staff have their memories wiped at the end of every shift. Automated memory filters in the ceiling."

They came to a stop in front of the doors where the guard, Atkins, happily opened the door. Kate then whispered to the women he had been under memory wipe since his first day, ten years ago.

Minerva inspected the large warehouse stuffed with all sorts of artifacts on shelves and walls. Clara hummed as she took in the different objects lying around.

"It's all so high tech for just a basic lock and key," she commented.

"Can't afford electronic security down here - got to keep the Doctor out," Kate threw an apologetic smile at Minerva. "You'll have to have your memory wiped after this I'm afraid."

"Mm, we'll see," Minerva walked on ahead, shifting Elias onto her hip.

"Why am I allowed in, then?" Clara walked beside Kate, suspiciously looking after Minerva.

"You have a top-level security rating from your last visit," Kate pointed over to a pinboard full of pictures of various companions - and even granddaughter of the Doctor's.

"Sorry, my what?" Clara stopped by the board to see a couple of the pictures.

"Apologies. We have to screen all of their known associates - we can't have information about the Doctor and the TARDIS falling into the wrong hands. The consequences could be disastrous."

" _This_ should _not_ be here," Minerva's suddenly angry voice caught both women's attention. "Kate Stewart, _what_ is this doing here?"

Clara came rushing towards them. Elias already had his small face pressed against the wall, accidentally dropping his teddy bear in the process. Clara picked up the bear and kept it in the meantime. "What is that?" she looked inside to the singular black device that seemed to fit a wrist.

"It's a vortex manipulator - allows you to time travel like the TARDIS would - and it should not be here," Minerva glanced at Kate who had come to stand on her other side.

"It was bequeathed to the UNIT archive by Captain Jack Harkness, on occasion of his death," she explained then added, "Well, one of them. No-one can know we have this, not even our allies."

"You have no right to own this," snapped Minerva. "It's far too dangerous for anyone on Earth, being human, to have this."

"Why?" Clara turned, slightly offended by the statement.

"Because, Clara, imagine being human and having the ability to rewrite history?" Minerva made her think. "You _have_ seen movies right?"

"Right," Clara nodded, letting that argument go.

Kate walked over to the containment room in which the manipulator was inside of, leading the other women in. "I'm not sure there's enough power for a two-way trip. In any event, we don't know the activation code. The Doctor knows we have this, so he's always kept the code from us. Let's hope he changes his mind." She took up her vibrating phone again. "Yes. Well, if you've found it, photograph it and send it to my phone."

"Do you know the code?" Clara whispered to Minerva secretly.

"I didn't even know the manipulator was here," Minerva defended herself.

Kate huffed and put her phone down on the pedestal beside the manipulator. Clara looked around while they waited, and noticed Osgood and a second scientist coming towards them.

"Erm, Kate, should they be here?" Clara pointed. "Why have they followed us?"

Minerva grabbed Clara's arm and pulled her closer, eyes set on the phone, awaiting for the message to come in.

"Oh, they've probably just finished disposing of the humans a bit early," Kate said smoothly.

"The humans...?" Clara trailed off, eyes widening.

"Dear me! I really do get into character, don't I?" Kate laughed, putting her hands on her hips.

"What creature am I speaking to at the moment?" Minerva demanded, surprising Clara beside her.

Kate did not answer as she chucked red poison from her mouth.

"Euck!" Elias covered his eyes, half disgusted and half scared.

Kate turned into a Zygon complete with suckers and the poison. The Zygon turned to the others - Osgood and the scientist having been Zygons as well.

"The Under Gallery is secured," the Zygon that had been Osgood declared.

Minerva's eyes widened when she saw Kate's cellphone light up with a new message. She handed Elias to Clara and snatched the manipulator from its pedestal. "Grab onto me," she whisper-shouted at Clara who latched onto her arm while Minerva punched in the activation code.

"Prepare to dispose of one more human and two aliens," the Kate-Zygon said. "We have acquired the device."

"You'll be hearing from my husband," Minerva promised them before activating the manipulator and flashing out.

~ 0 ~

"In theory," began the War Doctor as he once again scanned the door of their jail, "I can trigger an isolated sonic shift among the molecules, and the door should disintegrate."

"We'd have to calculate the exact harmonic resonance of the entire structure down to a sub-atomic level," Ten pointed out, a hint of arrogance in his tone. "Even the sonic would take years."

"No, no, the sonic would take centuries," agreed the War Doctor who sighed and walked from the door, taking a seat on the wooden bench set against the walls. "Oh, we might as well get started. Help to pass the "timey-wimey". Do you have to talk like children? What is it that makes you so ashamed of being a grown-up?"

Eleven momentarily stopped scratching his message on the wall and looked over his shoulder towards the War Doctor. Much like Ten, he couldn't keep his stare longer than two seconds.

"Oh, the way you both look at me," the War Doctor breathed. "What is that? I'm trying to think of a better word than "dread"."

"He's right," the younger Minerva nodded, "I don't get it. And I hate not understanding. What's going on that you're not telling us?" she was looking directly at Ten, knowing that out of any he would be the one to answer. She expected him to.

But now Ten wouldn't even face _her_. Eleven, too, had gone back to scratching his message on the wall.

Minerva blinked, glancing back at Martha just to confirm this had happened. "So...we're just going to ignore the fact I asked a question."

"You can ask any question just not that one," Ten muttered.

"Well, now I'm gonna ask this one again," Minerva resolved, crossing her arms. "How do I learn about you if you won't talk?"

"Minerva-"

" _No_ ," she pointed at him. "Why won't you look at me?" she looked to Eleven and saw the same thing was happening. "And you won't look at me either. What is it?"

"The Time War," Eleven finally said, making her falter almost immediately. "He's-" he nodded over to the War Doctor who was intently watching them, confused why they were giving up so easily against a human girl, "-from there. He's from...the day…"

"The day?" Minerva weakly repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What...day?"

"The day _we_ killed them all," Ten finished with a big breath, barely able to take her appalled look.

The Interface, still as Princess Kaeya, appeared against another wall directly ahead of the War Doctor. "It's history for them," she said softly, gazing at one Doctor to another, "All decided. They think their future is real - they don't know it's still up to you."

The War Doctor looked away from her. "I don't talk about it."

"You're not talking about it," Martha looked his way in a new light, somewhere in the mixture of terror and confusion.

The Interface was now sitting beside the War Doctor, one leg gracefully over the another and letting her silver gown drape over. "I think you need to ask them what you've been wanting to," she said.

"Did you ever count?" the War Doctor asked then.

"Count what?" Eleven glanced back.

"How many children there were on Gallifrey that day."

Eleven abruptly stopped scratching, and Minerva watched how he nearly lost his composure and the nail he held. Her eyes - which Ten believed were accusing him - flickered back onto him. Of course she knew what he'd done, he just never thought she would be around the man who _actually_ had done it.

"I have absolutely no idea," Eleven had muttered and gone back to scratching.

"How old are you now?"

"Ah...I don't know," Eleven almost snapped. "I lose track. Twelve hundred and something, I think, unless I'm lying. I can't remember if I'm lying about my age - that's how old I am."

"400 years older than me. And in all that time, you've never even wondered how many there were?" the War Doctor increduliously asked. "You never once counted?"

"Tell me," Eleven turned around, half angry, "what would be the point?"

"2.47 billion," Ten responded and was glaring towards his older self. Behind him, Minerva was stunned.

"You _did_ count!' the War Doctor exclaimed.

"You _forgot_?" Ten nearly shouted at Eleven, the latter returning to the scratching on the wall. "400 years? Is that all it takes?"

"He didn't forget," Minerva quietly said, barely heard but perfectly by both Doctors near her. "He just doesn't want to remember."

"Is that what you think?" Eleven looked her way, suddenly wishing he had his wife at the moment. The younger version still knew him so well, despite not meeting him yet, but this was not the version he could retreat for a hug nor her comforting words. This version was not yet his.

"It's what I know," Minerva countered, attempting to raise her head high like she was at ease in her place. "Don't you stand there in front of me, in front of Martha, and say you wouldn't remember because I _know_ you would. Lie to me, I dare you."

Eleven shook his head, a crooked smile spreading across his lips. "No, I can't."

At that moment, his attention was diverted to Liv, who had reappeared looking quite alarmed. "I checked the museum, but they're not anymore. I don't know where else to look because there's no one else at the gallery."

This put Eleven on edge. With the time lines being so scrambled at the moment, he couldn't use his telepathic abilities to reach Minerva. Where was his wife? His son? And Clara, of course.

Minerva was now looking over to Ten, walking up to him, a bit difficult in her gown. "And you? Will you just look at me already?" Ten slowly directed his gaze onto her, seeing her sparkly green eyes waiting for him. She managed to smile for him. "I know what you did, and I told you once that I know, if given another chance, things would work out differently."

"Oh, Minerva," Ten swayed his head, his hearts swelling to hear such confidence from her, but he was being realistic.

"C'mon," Minerva took one of his hands, "I'm Clever, remember? I know it. I just do." Her smile became contagious enough so that Ten started to smile. Even Eleven was upholding his own in secret.

The War Doctor was in utter awe, and frankly a little upset. This human was doing what only one woman could ever do - and unfortunately, her image was still sitting beside him, only reminding him that she was dead. Dead and without being able to rest peacefully because he had not been able to find her body anywhere on the Silver Monsoon. He had searched - oh he had searched - for anything of hers but there was just nothing. It was like the snow had gobbled her up.

"These men is what you will become one day," the Interface said, with a shake of her head. Her curls fell just over her eyes. "If you destroy Gallifrey, you will become the man who regrets, and the man who forgets." She looked at him, her blue eyes guilting him without even trying. "The Moment is me, you have to decide."

"No," the War Doctor said quietly.

"No, what?" Martha looked his way again.

Liv eyed the War Doctor for a moment, seeing him turn his head to his left, like someone was there. Without yet voicing this thought, Liv walked over to the bench and cautiously took a seat beside him. In facing him, she saw he was staring right at her. She gasped, nearly falling back. Eleven heard her and, thinking she'd been seen, turned around.

"Someone else is here, Doctor," she told him, slowly getting up from the bench with eyes glued onto the 'empty' spot beside the War Doctor. "Someone...only _he_ can see."

"But…" Eleven began before remembering he wasn't supposed to directly talk to her at the moment.

"I know it okay," she assured him. "Take it from someone who's seen that face on all the children able to see me. This man is seeing someone no one else can. Good or bad? I don't know."

Martha began to chuckle as she walked up to her Doctor and Minerva. "Well, I'm glad Minerva's got you feeling all better-" she winked at Ten, "-again."

"Martha," whined both addressed.

Martha crossed her arms, enjoying the show. It was funny, not to mention quite promising, to see how Minerva had easily gotten these two Doctors calmed from what could have been a good argument. She wondered what Minerva's place was with the future Doctor. Were they, finally, together then? She hoped so because watching them endlessly pine after one another was, at times, boring. The only Doctor she knew she wouldn't be able to make any remarks was of the past Doctor. Frankly, she would rather not try. It was all fun and games now, when they were going adventure to adventure, but this Doctor was still in war, or at least recently out of war. There were no moods for jokes like the ones she made.

"Do you know," the Interface now walked around Ten, Minerva and Martha while looking at the War Doctor, "It _is_ the same screwdriver he's holding. Same software…" she moved closer to Eleven, "...but different case."

The War Doctor realized immediately and gasped. "400 years!"

"I'm sorry?" Ten looked on over.

"At a software level, they're all the same device, aren't they? Same software, different case."

"Yeah. So...?"

Eleven silently took out his own screwdriver and joined Ten as they approached the wooden door.

"So, it would take centuries for the screwdriver to calculate how to disintegrate the door." The War Doctor used his own sonic to scan the door. "Scanning the door, implanting the calculation as a permanent subroutine in the software architecture and…" he turned expectantly towards the others, "...if you really are me, with your sandshoes and your dicky bow, and that screwdriver is still mine... that calculation is still going on."

Quickly, Ten held his screwdriver to his ear after turning it on and beamed. "Yeah. Still going!"

Eleven checked his own and smiled. "Calculation complete!"

"Same software. Different face," the Interface reminded, sitting at the bench with her legs crossed.

"Eh, 400 years in four seconds. We may have our differences, which is frankly odd in the circumstances, but I tell you what, boys, we are incredibly clever!" Eleven cheered, moving for the doors when they burst open before.

"Yay!" a happy Elias crawled inside, even more so happy when he saw his father.

"Clara, I told you to hold him!" the older Minerva walked in after her son, swiping him off the ground immediately.

Clara came in rather unamused. "He refuses to walk - either he crawls or we deal with a crying baby while trying to sneak around. Take your pick."

Everyone in the room was left stunned by their presence.

"How did you do that?" Eleven stepped forwards, pointing at the door.

"It wasn't locked you idiot," the older Minerva laughed, really unsurprised.

"Right," Eleven let his hand hang for a moment.

Elias giggled at the misfortune. "Funny!"

"Very funny indeed El…" the older Minerva had trailed off at the sight of her younger self, the latter staring right back at her. "Well," she blinked, her eyes widening, "this is actually a surprise."

"So they're both you, then, yeah?" Clara, awed, stepped up beside Minerva, glancing from the War Doctor to Ten. "And you're Martha," she pointed at the woman, recognizing her from a couple of photographs she was shown. However, she was stumped when she met the younger Minerva.

This visibly hurt the younger version.

"You don't seem to know who I am," she whispered.

Clara, mouth opened, glanced at her Minerva and Doctor.

The young Minerva felt her heart constrict instantly. If that woman didn't know her then it meant she stopped traveling with the Doctor at some point in the timeline. But...that couldn't be...could it? Yes she had once said she would leave the Doctor if princess Kaeya returned and they got together, but things were different now. It was only a week ago that the Doctor had secretly kissed her, would it really turn out to be nothing instead? Is that what would drive her out of the TARDIS?

"There's two of you here," mused the older Minerva for a moment, surprising her Doctor, Clara and Liv, when she adapted an English accent, a light chuckle escaping her lips suddenly, "I can get used to that." A few seconds later she registered what she said and looked up quickly. "No I cannot!"

' _...yes I can.' s_ he sent Eleven a smirk.

"Actually, there's three of you," Clara was the first to spot the War Doctor. "But I don't remember seeing you."

"Makes two of us," Liv crossed her arms. "And don't talk to me out loud, Clara. That's my sister's previous incarnation over there," she nodded to the brunette Minerva. "She can't know that I'm alive, nor anyone else except you guys."

Clara nodded she understood but said nothing.

"Auntie! Auntie!" Elias flapped his hands excitedly at the sight of his aunt Martha Jones.

Martha responded with wide eyes. "Why is he saying that? Who's he? And who are you?" she demanded rather rudely from the older Minerva, although Minerva understood it was partly coming from the fact that the younger Minerva was looking more and more upset.

"This is…" the older Minerva began, but was failing to come up with a plausible introduction that wouldn't hurt her younger self.

"That's my brother!" Clara exclaimed suddenly, reaching to take Elias from his moyher, ignoring the flabbergasted Minerva & Eleven. "He's my younger brother, Elias. And don't fret, he calls everyone Auntie and Uncle."

Elias looked up at Clara with a scrunched up nose. "Boo, Ca-yah." He knew very well that was his auntie Martha, his Mommy and Daddy over there. The other man he didn't really know.

Clara chuckled nervously. "See that? Always trying to mess with his big sis."

"You brought your brother to 16th century England?" Ten raised an eyebrow. "Full of Zygons?"

"Oi, I wasn't expecting all this to happen," Clara frowned.

' _What is she doing_?' Eleven asked his Minerva because he was just not getting.

His Minerva, on the other hand, was smiling contently. ' _Don't you dare correct her. My younger self is such an emotional mess remember? If she realizes that's your son you had with **me** \- a woman she doesn't know is her future self - it'll send her over. That's why I'm talking with the accent. And we can't very well tell her she's actually Kaeya, her enemy remember? Your other self over there thinks I'm dead. It's an outright mess_.'

' _Then let's make things better for her, eh_ '

Before his Minerva could say anything, he stepped towards the younger Minerva. "You'll have to forgive our companion, that's Clara," he jerked a thumb to Clara, "And she has a tough time remembering people. But she knows exactly who you are."

"Minerva, yeah, of course," Clara piped in fast, hoping to mend things. There was something off about the younger Minerva. She did not possess something the older Minerva did, but Clara couldn't figure out what it was. It was just important. "I just didn't recognize you, that was all."

"But why?" the younger Minerva promptly asked. "You knew Martha well."

"Because you look different," the older Minerva briefly explained.

"Different…?"

"A tiny bit, really," Clara added for comfort.

"But believe me, everyone knows who you are in the future," Eleven assured, taking one of her hands, something Ten wasn't looking so fond of. "Minerva - that's going down in history books."

"You're lying…" she said weakly, her pink face betraying her words.

"Look me in the eyes and see for yourself," Eleven dared, leaning closer. "You said you know. Here's your chance."

The young Minerva accepted the challenge reluctantly, as it was impossible to say no to him, even if it was a future incarnation. She looked into his eyes, thinking it weird to see their green shade instead of brown. A quirky smile started spreading across her lips. "You still know me then," she said, sounding quite happy.

Eleven chuckled and stepped back to stand beside his own Minerva. "Always."

"Ca-yah," Elias tugged on Clara's hair, ignoring the small 'ow' Clara gave in return. "Mommy?" he started pointing a small finger at the younger Minerva when Clara quickly pulled it back. Chuckling nervously again, she said, "Mum's at work and…"

"That baby sounded American," Martha remarked suspiciously.

"Dad's American," Clara said instantly, hoping someone else would step in and save her now.

"I'm Moonie by the way," Minerva decided to introduce herself. "Second companion. And don't worry," she looked at her younger self, reading thoughts, "You're just out handling important business."

"I still travelling in the TARDIS," the younger Minerva repeated happily, glancing at Ten, both matching with wide smiles.

"Hang on," Clara walked back to the open door, "You mean to tell me that there are three of you in one cell" she pointed at each Doctor, "And two clever companions, but none of you thought to just try to open the door?"

"It should have been locked," the War Doctor said defensibly, still stumped though. Why would their jail door not be locked?

"Yes, exactly!" Eleven exclaimed. "Why wasn't it locked?"

Elizabeth entered the room with a wide smile. "Because I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping."

The older Minerva scowled at the sight of her. "Oh, it's _you_ \- I'd like a word with you," she started for the woman but Eleven saw one of her hands faintly glowing blue and realized there would be no such 'words' said. He reached forwards and yanked her back.

' _You can't hurt Queen Elizabeth, love._ ' He cautioned in her mind.

' _Just **watch** me._ '

Elizabeth eyed the ginger woman with mild amusement. "I understand you're rather fond of this world. It's time I think you saw what's going to happen to it."

"I think you'll love what's going to happen to _you_ next," the older Minerva muttered as the group began filing out of the cell.

Elizabeth led them down to the base of the Zygons. Numerous of them were working various machines when they reached the balcony overlooking the base. "The Zygons lost their own world. It burned in the first days of the Time War. A new home is required."

"And you want this one?" Martha raised an eyebrow, getting brief images of her trip to Shakespeare. It was similar in that once again the world was being threatened in the past.

"Not yet. Far too primitive," Elizabeth peered down. "Zygons are used to a certain level of comfort."

"Commander…" a Zygon appeared to the doorway, "...why are these creatures here?"

"Because I say they should be. It is time you too were translated."

The Zygon gave a growl but followed orders. It walked towards a pedestal containing a glass cube.

Liv appeared beside the pedestal, nose scrunched as the Zygon reached it. "What the hell is it gonna do?"

"Observe this," Elizabeth ordered the group. "I believe you will find it fascinating."

The Zygon put a hand over the cube, causing a whir that soon disseminated the creature and pulled it into the cube. The final stage brought it inside the nearest painting, a familiar painting.

"That's him!" Clara gasped and hurried up to the desert painting that hung in the Gallery in the future. "That's the Zygon in the picture now."

"Bad," Elias clutched his teddy bear, frowning as he too remembered the painting. "Ca-yah, moo…"

Clara quickly attacked him with an glare. " _Moo_? Are you calling me a cow?"

"He meant 'move' Clara," the older Minerva stepped in.

That calmed Clara enough to move on. "Oh...right."

"It's not a picture, it's a Stasis Cube," the War Doctor stepped forwards. "Time Lord art - frozen instants in time, bigger on the inside but could be deployed as…"

"Suspended animation," Ten finished for him. "Oh, that's very good. The Zygons all pop inside the pictures, wait a few centuries till the planet's a bit more interesting, and then out they come."

"So, they're gonna pop out in the future?" young Minerva inquired curiously, moving to stand beside him.

"Exactly," Ten nodded at her, beaming that she understood it off the bat. She was just that smart!

Clara turned to her, awed yet not surprised. She knew Minerva was very clever, she just did not expect this human version of hers to be as well. "You understood that?"

Young Minerva shyly smiled. "Yeah, it's not that hard if you pay attention once in a while to what he talks about."

Elias tugged on Clara's hair again, and this time he didn't stop until she leaned closer to him. "Cever Mommy, shhh!" he covered his mouth as he giggled.

"Yes," Clara patted his head and then pushed her hair behind her shoulders. For a baby, he had more strength than she thought.

"You see, Clara, they're stored in the paintings in the Under Gallery, like Cup-a-Soups," Eleven tried to explain in his own words. "Except you add time - if you can picture that." But as seconds ticked on by he didn't think anyone could figure that out. "I don't think anyone could picture that. Forget I said Cup-a-Soups."

"Done and done," the older Minerva patted his arm and moved on closer to the painting. "The world is worth conquering by 2013 but the Zygons have been invading us since this century."

Elizabeth smiled widely.

"Clever," the older Minerva praised. "But not enough so that you can't be stopped."

"Oh, really?"

The older Minerva turned to face her. "Clearly, one of you has already been stopped. No Zygon would ever just blatantly tell us the plan. Honestly, what is this? A movie? Only an idiot would-"

"Because it's not _my_ -" Elizabeth opened her mouth to reveal she was not the Zygon commander but Minerva was one step ahead.

"It's not your plan, yeah, I got that," the older Minerva rolled her eyes. "Course it was easy to pretend to be the leader because Zygons would never question their commander's ability to take out a human."

"How did that you know that?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, terribly shocked that her pretense had been figured out so easily.

The older Minerva gave a crooked smirk. "Because I'm clever."

" _Very_ ," Eleven smiled at her, wishing he could kiss her at the moment. She whirled around, her hair swinging to one side, accepting his compliments with blushes.

Young Minerva watched somewhat sadly. That ginger woman looked so close to the Doctor, and the Doctor to her. And, she was smart too. Very smart by the looks of it. Was it even true that she, herself, was still traveling with the Doctor in the future? Or was it just a lie to avoid hurting her feelings? Right now, seeing those two so close and smiling made her think the latter.

Elizabeth ignored them as time ordered for problems to be resolved. "The future of my kingdom is imperiled. Doctor, can I rely on your service?" she asked of Ten.

"Well, I'm going to need my TARDIS," the Time Lord nodded.

"It has been procured already!"

"Ah!"

"But first, my love, you have a promise to keep!"

The insinuation in Elizabeth's words pulled the older Minerva out of her moment with Eleven. Unlike her younger self, who was looking miserable as she too understood what Elizabeth meant, this older Minerva looked deadly.

And then, suddenly…

"Your majesty, there is something we require for your kingdom to be saved," the older Minerva had said so kindly it left Eleven gravely concerned wondering what she was actually going to do.

"Like?" Elizabeth asked.

"Come with me…" the older Minerva led the way for Elizabeth to follow.

"Clara?" Eleven asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"...can you go follow them? Just in case?"

Clara nodded, handed Elias to him, and hurried after their Minerva.

"What is she going to do?" Martha wondered.

"Hopefully nothing," Eleven turned around, one hand distractedly playing with Elias' hand.

~ 0 ~

Eleven took back his words desperately as he stood to the side literally inches from his own wedding. He didn't know how Minerva was letting this all happen to be honest. The blue TARDIS was standing just a couple of feet away from the procession and yet there they were watching a minister performing the wedding ceremony of Elizabeth and Ten. On one side stood Eleven, who held Elias, and the War Doctor while on the other side stood Clara, both Minervas, and Martha. Liv was leaning against the TARDIS, still unable to be seen except for the current travelers and Doctor.

The young Minerva was failing to conceal her despondence as they watched the ceremony, but her elder self looked calm as ever. Martha put an arm around the younger Minerva's shoulders, saying comforting words to her friend. She couldn't believe Ten was agreeing to this! But, then again, he wasn't looking very happy himself as Elizabeth repeated the vows. He was only doing it because he feared Elizabeth had a back up plan that involved pain for people.

"Ah! Ah! Moo!" Elias was frantically trying to get down from his father's arms. He was red faced, much like the younger Minerva was, but it was out of anger instead of sadness. Who did that lady in the orange dress think she was trying to marry _his_ Daddy? His Daddy already had a wife, didn't she understand!? "Away! Away!" Elias practically screamed, going as far as throwing his teddy bear towards the procession right when Ten was about to start the vows. The teddy bear managed to his leg, interrupting the ceremony.

The eldest Minerva suddenly thrust a hand forwards, shooting ice directly at Elizabeth's legs. The human Queen screamed in terror as the bottom of her gown froze. Everyone else backed away in surprise.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Elizabeth angrily looked around for the culprit.

"I'm fine with you snogging my then almost-boyfriend but I draw the line at _marrying_ my husband!" the older Minerva glared daggers at the woman. "The Doctor already has a ginger Queen as a wife, and that's _me_. Buh-bye," she strode around the icy mess.

"Yay, Mommy!" Elias clapped fervently, laughing even. "Yay!"

Eleven exchanged looks with Clara. He rushed to give her Elias then dashed after his wife.

Elizabeth struggled and struggled against the ice around her, shouting for the guards. "What is that wretched woman's name!? I will have her executed for this!"

Elias giggled. "Mommy, yay!"

Clara couldn't help but smile as well. "That, your majesty-" she said as she walked up to where Elias' teddy bear had fallen, "-was her royal highness, Queen Minerva. Bye."

Elias stuck his tongue out at the Queen, who gasped in heavy offence as they walked away. "Guards! Guards!"

If the youngest Minerva hadn't been too engulfed in her own sorrow, she would have distinctly heard her own name being used. Ten had ran after his older self, but Martha was having more trouble getting the younger Minerva to walk with her. The War Doctor too had hurried after the ginger woman, his attention more than piqued by some of her words. When he entered the TARDIS, he found Eleven going after the ginger, apparently trying to tell her what she did was 'wrong'. Ten was shouting from his position by the rails of the entrance.

"...but love, you can't just... _ice_ Queen Elizabeth I…"

"Mm, I can and I have," Minerva said, turning a knob on the console, Ten's console. "I'm thinking of going for a second round."

"Do you realize you are the reason she wanted to _behead_ me!?" Ten was saying from his spot.

Minerva raised her head only slightly, no remorse whatsoever in her eyes. "Yes, I have, and I don't regret it. No one tries marrying my husband - keyword _tries_ because the attempt isn't even finished before I get them first!"

"You're _married_?" the War Doctor repeated, eyes flickering from the ginger to his eldest self beside her.

"Yes," Minerva shrugged. "And he should be thanking me for what it did...unless he _wanted_ to marry her?"

Eleven's hands shot up high into the air. " _Noooo_ ," he quickly said. "Ice the queen, ice her good. I don't care."

"Married?" it was now Ten who caught on and looked just as unhappy as the War Doctor. "You're married!? I can't...I can't marry _you_!"

"Yeah, and why not?" Minerva turned, challenging him.

"Because, well…" he scratched his head, clearly trying to come up with a reason.

Minerva mused as she continued working on the console. It was beginning to spark with the three Doctors inside.

"We might wanna hurry up!" Clara came rushing inside with Elias. "Elizabeth is calling her guards!"

"Let her," Minerva scoffed.

The door reopened again and this time Martha walked in, dragging the younger Minerva inside by the arm. It was then that the eldest Minerva realized what she caused in her little spectacle. With a hand over her mouth, she glanced at Eleven.

Ten moved for his two companions, failing to come up with a sentence for the young Minerva. "M-Minerva, please…"

The young Minerva looked down, refusing his touch. "Leave me, it's fine," she ordered, but her tone was shaky.

Elias stared intently from Clara's arms.

"No, c'mon, please just listen," Ten gently took Martha's place and stood beside the young Minerva.

"You're married - that's f-fine…" but from across they could see her tears filling her eyes.

Eleven took over the piloting of the TARDIS so that they were at least out of Elizabeth's grasp.

"It's not, it's not what you think…"

The young Minerva cut him off with a sad chuckle, shaking her head.

Elias fussed Clara then, doing so until she put him down. He began to fervently crawl towards his younger parents.

"I'm happy for you," young Minerva tried to casually lie, but her streaming tears betrayed her.

Ten felt miserable as he realized there was nothing he could do to make things better. He tried reaching out to her, but she turned her head.

"Ah! Ah!" Elias called to her the closer he got. Then, he pushed himself _up_.

The older Minerva gasped so loudly Eleven immediately left the console to see if she was alright. "Doctor, look!"

Eleven looked ahead just in time to see his son _walking_ up to the younger Minerva.

"Mommy! Mommy!" he fell back on his bottom just in front of the young Minerva. He tugged on Minerva's jeans (because right before the wedding she had decided it was no use trying to wear a 'pretty dress' like Martha had told her before), raising his hands to be picked up.

"He walked! He walked! He walked!" the older Minerva laughed with happy tears. "My baby walked!"

Eleven was laughing as well, hugging his wife who was practically clinging onto him.

Meanwhile, the younger Minerva was having a near heart attack. Why was this baby calling to her? And calling her ' _mommy_ '?

Elias grunted, one hand tugging on Minerva's jeans while the other opened and closed at her, signaling he wanted to be picked up. "Up! Up! Moo!"

Slowly, the young Minerva bent down and cautiously wrapped her arms around the toddler. Almost immediately Elias beamed and clapped his small hands over her cheeks. He leaned forwards and pressed tiny kisses on her face, as far as he could reach. Eventually, young Minerva began to smile through her tears.

"You're very affectionate," she sniffed.

"Yay! Mommy!" Elias was happy to see his bit had worked and clapped his hands.

The young Minerva's smile faded off her face. "Why does he keep calling me that?"

Elias ignored her for a moment and glanced back at Ten who'd been staring awkwardly. It appeared he was already figuring things out judging by his red face. With one hand Elias reached towards him. "Daddy, c'mon!" Why was this Daddy being so slow? Mommy needed a hug now but all he was doing was _looking_?

"Doctor, he just called you 'daddy'..." young Minerva was now bluntly staring at the toddler in her arms. "Why's he doing that?"

"Oh for goodness sake," Eleven shook his head, "C'mon Clever Girl don't you see it? He's your son. And when his Mummy is sad he knows to pepper-kiss her face because that's what I do to cheer my wife up."

"Wife," young Minerva repeated, making a face. Elias watched her and giggled. She smiled at him a moment before meeting Ten's look, instantly blushing. "It's not possible...is it? We're not..I can't be…"

"I think you are," Ten stepped closer to her, his hearts beating rapidly with excitement at the idea. It was impossible, yes, but when was he ever for the possible?

"But I can't be!" young Minerva exclaimed, looking over to the others for some backup. Even Martha had gone quiet as she too tried figuring out how it all worked out.

The older Minerva had busied herself, along with Clara, with the console which was beginning to spark. Ten glanced her way as well, seeing the ginger so at home with his TARDIS it only served as evidence of the truth.

"It's just not possible," the young Minerva was still saying to him.

He looked at her again, wearing a warm smile. "But you are. I can see it now. If there is ever a need for evidence, I've got one."

"Yeah...like what?"

"She got into our TARDIS when I clearly left it _locked_. The TARDIS doesn't open up for any intruders."

The older Minerva heard that and looked up from the console with offence. "I am _not_ an intruder! The Box of Wonders knows who I am, thank you very much!"

"Box of wonder-" Martha repeated to herself before laughing loudly, clapping her hands together, "-oh she _is_ you, Minerva! This is too good! You _marry_ him!"

Although blushing like mad, the young Minerva had never felt so happy in her life. She looked up to Ten, suddenly wishing she wasn't carrying a toddler in her arms to, well, kiss him...like...a lot.

"He doesn't look too happy," Clara quietly remarked to her Minerva and Doctor, nodding over to the War Doctor standing on the side of the TARDIS.

"For real," Liv popped in, making a face.

It was true. Everyone was content with the revelation, or at least for the fact that Elias had taken his first steps...except for the War Doctor. He was visibly looking from one Minerva to the other, from Elias, to the Doctors, and he was _not_ happy. In fact, he looked almost _mad_.

" _He thinks you betrayed 'Kaeya_ '," the older Minerva mused to Eleven, making the mental calculations of her first incarnation's whereabouts in the War Doctor's time. ' _I was supposedly dead, and...well…_ ' she eyed Eleven slyly, ' _...you did say you would never love another woman that's not me_.'

' _And I kept it, didn't I?_ ' Eleven bopped her on the nose, making her chuckle.

"Ow!" Clara hissed as a spark hit one of her hands. A couple feet from her, Liv reacted the same way as if she too had been hurt by the spark. Both women looked at each other a minute, confused.

"Oh dear, it's the TARDIS finally losing it," the oldest Minerva went around the console while Eleven went the opposite way, both trying to help the poor TARDIS.

"Eek!" Clara jumped again when the entire interior changed from Ten's console to a brightly lit, white interior complete with rondels on the wall.

"What's happening?" Martha was in the same state as Clara, jumping from one spot to another with each hiss and spark from the console.

"Three of us from different time zones," the War Doctor finally spoke up, but even his voice had acquired a new stiffness, "and, apparently, two of her-" he pointed at the ginger Minerva, "so it's trying to compensate."

"Hey look, you still had round things before too," young Minerva looked around in awe.

"I love the round things," nodded Ten.

"Yay," Elias said with a light yawn escaping his mouth. He laid his head on his young mother's shoulder, clutching his teddy bear with one arm.

"What _are_ the round things?" Liv wondered out loud, not that anyone that shouldn't heard her. Thankfully, Clara was there to help her.

"What _are_ the round things?" she repeated Liv's question to the Doctors and even Minerva.

"No idea," Ten happily shook his head.

"Uh oh," went older Minerva as she heard a beeping noise coming from a part of the console. "Ah, dear? I think that's the friction contrafibulator."

"I got it-" Eleven began to say when she raised a hand to stop.

"Nope, I do!" she pressed a couple more buttons afterwards. The console sparked again and this time the TARDIS changed into the current interior of Minerva's and Eleven's. "Stabalized, ha!" she cheered.

"Oh, you've redecorated," Ten took notice of the new dark colored interior. Eleven excitedly nodded, waiting for what he thought would be compliments. "I don't like it," Ten declared with a big ole frown.

Eleven's mouth opened in indignation. "Oh? Oh, yeah. Oh, you never do!"

Elias giggled, his eyes looking from one Doctor to another. "Daddy!"

"I don't appreciate you arguing in front of our son," the older Minerva pointed warningly at Ten and Eleven, before winking at her younger self. "Keep it to yourself, boys."

The younger Minerva was in awe as she watched her older self so comfortable and... _in_ _charge_...of everything, even the Doctors. How could she _ever_ become _that_ woman?

"Alrightie, we've got a situation," the older Minerva clapped her hands. "We need to get to the Black Archive in the future-"

"Black Archive?" Eleven repeated, his playfulness vanishing instantly.

"Mhm," his wife nodded, a minute before she smacked him on the arm.

"Ow!"

"That was for not telling me Jack's manipulator is down there!"

"I was gonna get to it...eventually," Eleven rubbed his arm and moved around the console again, partially to escape another hit and the other to move for the Archive.

"Lies," hissed the older Minerva.

"Don't fight in front of the baby," the younger Minerva called from her spot, still holding Elias.

"Now you're catching on," laughed her older self. "Dear, how about the telegraph thing you always talked about?"

"Already on it," mused Eleven as he turned several knobs near the monitor.

A couple minutes later, he activated the telegraph that would connect them to the one inside the Black Archive. They heard Kate's voice soon enough...and then a second one...and both of them were talking about destroying London.

"Um, I know damn right I did not hear what I think I just heard," the older Minerva cut into the conversation in the archive. "Kate Stewart, what is going on over there?"

"Minerva?" one Kate asked back, sounding surprised of the voice considering she was not visible in the room.

"It's a Space-Time Telegraph, Kate," Eleven explained. "It was a gift from me to your father, hotline straight to the TARDIS. I know about the Black Archive and I know about the security protocol. Kate, please, please, tell me you are not about to do something unbelievably stupid!"

"I'm sorry, Doctor. Switch it off."

"Not as sorry as you will be," Ten joined them at the console. "This is not a decision you will ever be able to live with."

"Ah!" the older Minerva grunted as the TARDIS rocked and shuddered but did not land. "Kate, we're trying to bring the TARDIS in - why can't we land?"

"I said switch it off!" Kate nearly shouted.

"No, Kate, please just listen to me," Eleven begged but the connection was gone. He huffed and looked at the others. "The Tower of London - totally TARDIS proof."

"How can they do that?" Martha asked with a frown, Clara agreeing with a nod.

"Alien technology plus human stupidity - trust me, it's unbeatable," Eleven shook his head.

"Um, we're human," the young Minerva scowled suddenly, having Martha and Clara as backup. "Are you calling us stupid?"

"Human," Eleven chuckled before his Minerva whacked him on the arm. He forgot that at this stage the young Minerva was technically still human due to the Chameleon arch being active.

"Forgive him, he's an idiot," the older Minerva sighed. "Says things before he even thinks about it."

"Mhm," Elias nodded and raised his head to look at his younger mother.

"Oi," Eleven called out to the boy, "What kind of defense is that, Elias?"

"Uh oh!" Elias dropped his teddy bear to cover his eyes.

The young Minerva chuckled and cleared off some the tips of ginger hair from his forehead. "You're kinda cute…"

Elias lowered his hands a bit. "Best," he said and seemed to be smirking.

"Aaaand that's how I know you're definitely part of the Doctor!"

"Oi!" cried Ten.

The War Doctor tried to hide his displeasure as much as possible when he interrupted the little moment. "We don't actually need to land the TARDIS…"

"Come again?" Clara tilted her head at him. "How can we not do that?"

"He so has an idea," Liv walked around him. "It's so strange having a quiet Doctor onboard. Can we switch him, Minerva?"

The older Minerva hid her giggle behind a hand while Eleven glared.

"There _is_ another way," the War Doctor told Clara, apparently one of the two people he wasn't completely upset with - the other being Martha. He walked up to the console and grabbed the stasis cube.

Martha gasped. "Cup-a-Soup! Right? It's Cup-a-Soup?" she glanced at Clara who shrugged, lost as she was.

"Yes, it is," the War Doctor nodded at both, waiting a moment before wondering out loud, "...what _is_ a Cup-a-Soup?"

~ 0 ~

After having the Gallifreyan painting of 'No More' moved into the Black Archive way before the Kate Stewarts had locked themselves inside, the group of travelers pondered on the exact ways they would carry out their plans. Once they started deciding, shouting and arguments ensued with one particular Moontsay very crossed.

"I am _not_ staying inside and you-" the older Minerva began pointing to Eleven, "-and you-" she pointed at Ten, "-and you-" she then pointed to the War Doctor, "-can all bite it!"

"Ooh, lot more mouthy in the future aren't we?" Martha mumbled to the younger Minerva.

Elias, who was now being carried by Clara, had his eyes covered once again. This was certainly new - his Mommy was fighting _three_ daddies!

"Minerva, please," Eleven implored with hands together, "The TARDIS can keep you safe in the painting, but outside is another story."

"Outside there are Daleks and you want me to stay in here while three of you idiots run out there endangering yourselves?" the older Minerva furiously looked from one Time Lord to the next.

"The idea is to break the painting's walls and make Kate reverse whatever she did to the Black Archive in order for the TARDIS to be brought out as well. You're the only one who can pilot the TARDIS from inside."

"That's what autopilot is for!"

"Clever Girl, we don't have time, and I frankly would feel _a lot_ better if you were in here with our son. Please?"

The older Minerva crossed her arms, eyes boring onto Eleven.

Eleven put on his widest smile for her.

"Fine," huffed Minerva and stomped back to the console.

"I'm gonna pay for that one later," Eleven mumbled to his younger selves behind him. "We'll be back, dear-"

"Yeah, whatever!" the older Minerva wave them off, clearly upset with him.

"Boy, you sure did it this time," Liv said to Eleven, looking rather amused.

Eleven grumbled under his breath as he turned to leave with the other Doctors. The older Minerva worked the console, making sure to close the doors with extra security after the Doctors left the box.

"Don't you think you were a bit harsh?" the younger Minerva inquired meekly, not daring to move from her spot beside Martha.

"You don't get it right now," the older Minerva looked up with a sigh, "Because you haven't gone through anything yet. My husband, and my son, are everything to me. If one of them is running into danger you better believe I'm gonna be upset."

"But...but you were being rude…"

"A concept that is more than playful between us, don't worry," the older Minerva winked and got to work on the console again.

~ 0 ~

The Zygons pretending to be Kate, a scientist, and Osgood stood opposite the real human trio between a table. There was a dangerous detonator propped up on a table beside them, counting down to the destruction of London unless both Kates agreed to cancel it. Thankfully, they had Time Lords helping them do so...they just didn't know it until a loud crash from the Gallifrey painting interrupted them.

The three Doctors emerged from the painting without a scratch from the slice of Time War, Eleven making a beeline for one of the Kates at the table.

"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, what in the name of sanity are you doing?"

"The countdown can only be halted at my personal command. There's nothing you can do," the Kate in question rose from her chair, looking firm in the decision.

Ten walked over, just as firm as Kate was for his own position. "Except make you both agree to halt it."

"Not even for three of you," Kate shook her head.

The War Doctor was the last to join them. "You're about to murder millions of people."

"To save billions," clarified the same Kate. "How many times have you made that calculation?"

"Once," Eleven answered grimly."Turned me into the man I am now. I'm not even sure who that is any more."

"You tell yourself it's justified, but it's a lie," Ten put his hands on the edge of the table and leaned over. "Because what I did that day was wrong. Just _wrong_."

"I would pay close attention if I were you," the Interface, still as princess Kaeya, appeared beside the War Doctor.

"And because I got it wrong... I'm going to make you...get it right." Eleven declared, grabbing a wheeling chair at the same time as Ten and plopped down, crossing his arms and propping his feet over the table...at the same time as Ten.

Kate looked at both Time Lords, unamused. "How?"

"Any second now, you're going to stop that countdown," Ten said with a hint of a smile. "Both of you. Together."

"Then you're going to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all time," added Eleven.

"Safeguards all round, fair on both sides."

"And the key to perfect negotiation…"

"Not knowing what side you're on."

"They push away from the table and stand."

Eleven began to smile as he straightened up in his chair. "So, for the next few hours... until we decide to let you out…"

Ten followed and both pulled out their sonic screwdrivers. "No-one in this room will be able to remember if they're human…"

"Or Zygon," Eleven finished.

"Whoops-a-daisy!"

Both Doctors jumped onto the table with the screwdrivers pointed up at the memory filter on the ceiling. The War Doctor aimed his own sonic from his spot, adding enough power to break down the filter. All duplicates and humans began to feel an odd sensation, everything fuzzy and…

"Cancel the detonation!" cried out both Kate Stewarts as the detonators neared zero.

"Peace in our time," Eleven looked around with a content smile, knowing what came next for them.

~ 0 ~

"And who's that, Elias?" Liv pointed to a black and white picture of a dark haired young woman on a bulletin board.

Clara inched closer to the picture, carrying Elias so that he could better see. His green eyes squinted with pure concentration as he studied the picture.

"Suan!" he then exclaimed cheerfully, proud he had recognized his, well, his niece technically.

Clara chuckled. "Your niece Susan, Elias."

"Yes, Ca-yah," Elias said as if it were obvious that was what he meant. After a moment, he twisted himself to peer around her. "Mommy? Daddy?"

"They're still busy, hon," Clara patted his head, discreetly glancing towards the older Minerva having a heated conversation with Eleven. Still nowhere near content with how things had been done, Eleven was trying to cheer his wife up. Unfortunately for him, it didn't look like pepper-kisses was going to suffice.

But Elias tugged on Clara's hair again, apparently disagreeing. "No, Mommy! Daddy!" he said with emphasis.

"They're right there, Elias, don't worry," Clara pointed to his parents, misunderstanding him.

Elias groaned, tugging harder on her hair.

"Ow! Elias!"

"Ca-yah, Mommy! Daddy!"

"Clara, I think he means the other versions," Liv chuckled.

"Oh," Clara rolled her eyes and got to looking for the others. Since the Zygons and the humans were in the process of negotiations, everyone had sort of split up in the room.

"Dere!" Elias pointed at his younger father, Ten, with Martha busily babbling about a Cyberman's head propped over a pedestal. There was the younger Minerva too, but she seemed to be drifting away towards the War Doctor.

Sitting on on a large wingback chair was the War Doctor, drinking some tea. The young Minerva approached him cautiously, like he would lash out all of a sudden. But as she pulled up a chair to sit across him, all the War Doctor did was sit and watch her.

"Hello," she greeted nervously. "I'm, uh, well, Minerva…I guess we haven't really met yet…"

"I look forward to it…"

Minerva smiled sadly, appreciating his kindness. "No, you really don't." Before the War Doctor could even make a confused face at her, she elaborated. "You don't like me very much. I can see it in your eyes."

"It's not that. I don't hate you, how could I? I don't even know you," the War Doctor sighed. It was true, how could he dislike someone _he_ hadn't yet met? He only disliked the form of relationship that had been established with her by his predecessors. He just couldn't understand how they had so easily given up their memory of Kaeya.

"It's okay," the young Minerva softly said, still upholding that bit of smile. "I can understand, I'm not...you know," she leaned in closer to whisper, "Kaeya?" she pulled back to see his shocked face. "I know all about her, Doctor. She's the reason you don't like what's going on here."

The War Doctor could only give her a small smile. Minerva tilted her head, really looking at him. "Is there a problem?"

The young Minerva sheepishly smiled, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I like to think that I know you almost as much as Kaeya did. I know many things about you, and, well, the deepest conversation we've had was about the Time War. The Doctor's always talking about the day he did it, the day he...he wiped out the Time Lords to stop the war…"

"One would," the War Doctor shifted in his chair.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't, because you haven't done it yet," she corrected. "It's still in your future isn't it?"

"You're very sure of yourself," remarked the War Doctor, eyeing her for any faltering but she didn't look like she'd budge from her position.

"The Doctor says I'm very clever," she said quietly.

"I see that you are," the War Doctor made a gesture towards Minerva's older self who was still having a heated conversation with Eleven.

The young Minerva looked back and smiled. "I'm not her," she said softly, returning her gaze to the War Doctor. "I mean, I _am_ her but not...not _her_ ," she discreetly pointed to her older self. "That woman, she's...she's braver than I am, a lot more comfortable with herself that's for sure. I mean - she _iced_ Queen Elizabeth I," her eyes widened at the memory, "That...that is _not_ me, at least...at least not yet. I'm not her right now, but do you know what I am?"

"What?"

"Smart enough to know that you're hiding a secret," she said so sure of herself that it made the War Doctor a bit more uncomfortable. "My Doctor, the, um, the sandshoes," she chuckled, "His eyes are different than yours. Even his last incarnation were. And, while I don't know the oldest, I saw it in his eyes when we first met."

"And what, pray tell, did you see?" the War Doctor asked, slightly fascinated by her manner in making deductions.

"Their gravest decision yet: the Time War. When you make a decision like the one they've made, it leaves a heavy scar in you. But it's not in _you_. You haven't made that decision yet, have you?"

"Clever Girl you are," the War Doctor finally saw sense into the nickname dawned on the woman.

"I know he regrets it," the younger Minerva whispered. "I see it everyday, every time he's up, he's regretting it. He would do anything to change it."

"Including saving all these people. How many worlds has his regret saved, do you think?" the War Doctor challenged. "Look over there -" he nodded to the others, "-humans and Zygons working together in peace."

"But that's just the Doctor, that's just what he does. I know you would do it too."

"Really?"

"Mhm," she smiled. "Younger eyes of yours, they are full of brilliant, crazy ideas."

"Then, all things considered... it's time I grew up."

The interface Kaeya appeared across, leaning against a wall.

"I've seen all I needed," the War Doctor called to her, confusing the younger Minerva for a moment. "The moment has come. I'm ready."

"I know you are," the Interface said quietly, leaning off the wall.

"Hmm?" the young Minerva glanced back in the direction the War Doctor had called to but saw no one. "I don't understand, who were you talking to…?" when she turned back she saw no more Doctor.

~0 ~

Back in the barn stood the War Doctor and the Interface, each on either side of the Moment which had been set up with a large red jewel-looking button. The War Doctor stared intently into the red button, knowing this was what he had to do.

"You wanted a big red button," sighed the Interface. "One big bang - no more Time Lords, no more Daleks. Are you sure?"

"I was sure when I came in here," admitted the man. "There is no other way."

"You've seen the men you will become," the Interface tried adding.

"Those men... extraordinary," the War Doctor said with a light breath. If those were the men he would become then so be it. They acted childish at times but at least they did the good _he_ could never do. Hell, even those two women they supposedly married were fine women. Clever. Very clever indeed. If they were married them it had to be because of an exceptional reason.

"They were you," the Interface reminded, her blue eyes softening in the way the real Kaeya would have.

"No. They were the Doctor," the War Doctor corrected sternly.

"You're the Doctor too."

"No," the War Doctor refused automatically. "Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame... whatever the cost." And yet, his hand hesitated to press the button.

The Interface watched him a moment, then suddenly started on a whole new subject. "You know the sound the TARDIS makes? That wheezing...groaning. That sound brings hope wherever it goes."

"Yes. Yes, I like to think it does," the War Doctor mused a bit.

"To anyone who hears it, Doctor. Anyone, however lost…" the Interface smiled as the War Doctor began to look around, confused as the familiar TARDIS wheezing started, "...even you!"

Before the War Doctor knew it, two blue TARDIS' materialized across them. Its respective inhabitants slowly emerged from them.

"I told you, Doctor, he hasn't done it yet," the young Minerva quite proudly said to Ten. She was glad she had told him as soon as the War Doctor had left, because if they were there then that meant something could be done, something to stop him.

The War Doctor turned his back on there group, once again staring at the red button. "Go away now, all of you. This is for me."

"You're out of your mind," snapped the older Minerva, looking quite crossed at him for ordering them that. In her arms she carried an awed Elias, who clutched his teddy bear as he examined the barn. He was old enough to understand this was Gallifrey, the place where his Daddy was from, and on some level where his Mommy came from too. But why were they at a dirty barn instead of outside?

"These events should be time locked - we shouldn't even be here," Ten remarked to his other self.

"So something let us through," Eleven mumbled, unable to stop staring at what laid ahead.

Sitting on a high crate, the Interface laughed. "You clever boys!"

"Go back. Go back to your lives," ordered the War Doctor. "Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile."

"All those years, burying you in my memory…" Ten moved towards him.

Eleven went after them as well. "Pretending you didn't exist. Keeping you a secret, even from myself...and my _wife_."

The older Minerva detected the guilt laced over his words, and felt for the first time that she was an outsider. This planet...this was the planet that gave way for her people to become what they were. But that was it. The only thing Gallifrey had given her was the physical ability to regenerate. The culture, the politics, the ideas of time and space were all theirs - all the Doctor's. The decision of the war, the Doctor's decision to end it on his own terms…

 _Wait a minute_ , she thought, stiffening.

"Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else," Ten had come to stand on one side of the Moment.

"You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right," Eleven stood on the other side.

"But this time…" Ten placed a hand over the red button as well.

"You don't have to do it alone," Eleven said.

"Thank you," the War Doctor released a small breath.

"What we do today is not out of fear or hatred. It is done because there is no other way," Ten looked from one Doctor to the next, thinking his words would suffice as some type of reasoning.

"And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save," Eleven added, shamefully looking at the red button.

"Then get that hand off of that awful button," came the shaky order of his wife. Eleven could feel her eyes burning on him but he couldn't do it, he couldn't face her. "And look at me, for God's sake. Look at me and your son."

"Daddy?" Elias fearfully looked about. Why was his Mommy shaking? And why was his younger Mommy crying? And his aunt Martha and Ca-yah scared?

Liv appeared beside Eleven, stunned. "I can't believe this is the choice you're making again. All of you."

"There is no other way," he mumbled, and to his younger selves it looked like he was weakly defending himself from his wife.

"Yes there is," the younger Minerva spoke up, her eyes trained on Ten. "I once said that if you had a second chance you would not take it."

The older Minerva's eyes drifted to the War Doctor, whose back was to them all. "Minerva, ask _him_ why he's doing it?" her younger self looked at her, confused. "Ask him what made him decide to look for the Moment in the first place."

Eleven knew immediately what she was up to, but neither Ten nor the War Doctor knew.

Confused, and scared out of her mind, the younger Minerva stepped forwards, clearing her throat. "Why?" she asked the War Doctor.

"Minerva, you know the story," the older Minerva reminded quietly. "Don't you?"

"I don't know the…" and then it clicked. The young Minerva gasped. "Kaeya. You're doing this...because of her death...because...because her innocent death was then last straw."

"It's so funny," the older Minerva said with a shake of her head as she handed Elias to Clara. "The entire reason you did this - you, the Doctor in the war - is because of a death that...really _didn't_ happen…"

"Minerva…" Eleven said in a warning voice, but she flat-out ignored him. If he was going to make a decision, then so was she.

"You need a little push in the right direction," the older Minerva said, coming straight up to the three Doctors. "If you're gonna do this, then do it knowing everything." She placed her hand over the last Doctor's hand, and looking straight at the War Doctor, she let her hand be wrapped in ice.

"Wh-what's happening…?" the War Doctor stuttered at the sight. His eyes had widened - as Ten's had - and he was beginning to shake.

"You know exactly what's happening, the both of you," the older Minerva's eyes flickered to Ten. "Because there is only one person you know who could do this." She retracted her hand and raised her palm, slowly creating a snowflake in midair.

"How are you doing that?" Ten demanded.

"With very much hope in my heart," the older Minerva teared up, looking him in the eyes. "Because I know my husband, and the man I know - the _men_ that I knew - would _not_ do this."

"You are not," the War Doctor shook his head, not a fool to believe in mere sights. "You can't be... _her_ …"

"My name is Kaeya, Queen of the Monsoon, and I am _definitely_ her. And I do _not_ want to see this happen."

"But you can't be _her_ ," the younger Minerva stepped forwards. "Because...because you're _me_."

"Of course I am - but we are _her_. We regenerate, Minerva. And we become who we have always been. But this isn't about me, this is about our Doctor. And this is us stopping him from making the biggest mistake of their lives."

"But you are _not_ her!" the War Doctor exclaimed. Out of words, he looked around for the Interface as Kaeya.

The Interface shrugged innocently. "I did tell you I got present and past confused," she said as a defense. Her figure then began to shine white and when it faded, she had turned into a smaller woman with long, straight brown hair and jade-green eyes.

The War Doctor's eyes changed to the younger Minerva, the exact copy the Interface had changed into.

"Very important she was, you see?" the Interface then asked, gaining his attention. "I go through your mind and I pick out the person who you are most influenced by. Luckily, this woman a lot of appearances to go by." Once more, a blinding white took her figure over and the next time she appeared she was a slightly taller ginger woman with hazel eyes. "It's the same woman, my dear Doctor, same mind, same heart. You should listen to her."

The War Doctor rubbed his eyes, as if everything was going to go away when he looked again. The Interface had reverted back to Kaeya's first incarnation - short, curly brown hair and shiny blue eyes.

"I think you should listen to her," she smirked.

"You…" the War Doctor glanced back at the older Minerva, ginger-haired, who was desperately trying to make sense for all of them.

"You once told me that I was the last straw in your war, the reason you went for the Moment. But here I am, Doctor, here I stand, and I _implore_ you not to go through with this." Minerva's teary eyes shook something within the three Doctors.

"Let's take a closer look, shall we?" the Interface whispered, causing everything in the room to go dark for a moment.

"What's happening?" Martha asked fearfully.

"Nothing - it's a projection," the War Doctor replied.

The young Minerva watched the great, destroyed city of Arcadia surrounded them as if they were actually there. Her eyes filled with tears as she saw all the families literally being torn from each other. "These are the people you're going to burn?" she asked from Ten, her green eyes landing on the tall man.

With the new revelation, Ten couldn't quite face her anymore. "There isn't anything we can do," he mumbled.

"He's right," Eleven agreed, but both Minervas cut in, angry.

"NO!" they shouted, making each of them flinch.

"There isn't another way-"

"I said no!" the older Minerva cut him right off again.

"There never was-"

"No-"

" _Kaeya_ ," Eleven said louder than ever, forcing her to be silent for a moment. Her heavy breathing made the only sound for a moment. "Either I destroy my own people or let the universe burn."

"I. Refuse," she spat. "You are going to stand there and tell me that big head of yours can't come up with anything better? Are you really going to do that?"

"Kaeya...I can't…"

"Oh yes you can," the older Minerva retracted her other hand from the button and took Eleven's hands into her own. "Because this time there's a difference. There's a difference that I _know_ is going to make it better."

"What is it?"

With one hand, the older Minerva reached to touch his face, gently making him look at her. "You've got your Clever Girl with you. And your son...and your friends…and we are _not_ going to let this planet burn. Do you trust me?"

"Without a second doubt," Eleven said quietly.

"Then you wait, because I've got an idea," she winked and glanced over her shoulder. "Isn't that right younger me?"

"Hmm?" the younger Minerva blinked, her tears still partially blurring her vision.

"I have been toggling with these ideas, ever since I learned of this day…" the older Minerva stepped back. "...and...I don't know...Minerva?"

"I can't…"

"Don't you whimper on me young me," Minerva whirled around. "This is _your_ idea, and no one is taking it."

"But it's...it's stupid…" the young Minerva flushed. There was no question that ginger was her, if she knew this crazy idea then it just had to be her.

"Go, Mommy!" Elias cheered her on with a small clap.

The young Minerva looked frantic as she looked from one person to the next. "I-I can't...y-y-you know! I...no, I…"

"Minerva, you are _brave_ and you are intelligent, we are just as good as those idiots-" she pointed to the other Doctors, "-over there. We are not cowards, we never give up, and we never give in. We hold our own legend, and this is where it starts. Don't be afraid."

It was then that Clara realized what the older Minerva possessed that the younger didn't. This Minerva, the one Clara traveled with, had no fear. Her Minerva was not afraid to order the Doctor around, to face these aliens and a bloody historical Queen. The young Minerva just didn't have the experience her older self did. She was still afraid, clearly, of facing her own version Doctor. She was just beginning her way.

The young Minerva slowly blinked, glancing at Ten who encouraged her to speak up with a small nod. Receiving a tiny smile from him, she supposed there was nothing to lose. "I...it's really unprofessional, and...and, well...it was just a dream, really," she began quietly, "I once thought, that...well...the Doctor once told me that the Daleks would have fired upon Gallifrey as a whole for their last move and burn it…"

" _And_?" the older Minerva urged her to keep going.

"W-well," the young Minerva fumbled with her thumbs, "One night, I was having a dream, and...it was about this day - the Doctor and I had talked about right before I went to sleep - and...instead of him wiping them out…" she swallowed hard, "...the planet disappeared. I don't know how it happened, but it just vanished...and…"

"...and the Daleks would have fired at each other," Ten finished her thoughts, smiling impressively at her. She flushed, but nodded.

"It was just a dream, but…"

"But it's something we've never stopped thinking about," the older Minerva said quietly. "Always in the back of our heads...lurking..."

"But is that possible?" Clara felt like an intruder asking this question, but in all her echo lives she had never seen such a science happen. "Make an entire planet disappear?"

"Our Clever Girl is clever for a reason," Eleven said, reaching for his wife's hand.

"But changing the history, wouldn't there be a huge repercussion?" Martha then inquired.

"Not the way I'm thinking of," Eleven smirked. "Gentleman, I have had 400 years to think about this. I've changed my mind." He used his sonic on the Moment and made it put itself away. "Thanks to my lovely wife - _wives_."

"Stop it," the older Minerva pointed at him, wearing her own smile.

"She didn't just show me any old future - she showed me exactly the future I needed to see," the War Doctor was saying to himself, beginning to smile the widest smile ever. He turned to the Interface, who was once again sitting on a high crate watching him.

"Now you're getting it," she laughed.

"Who are you seeing?" Clara suddenly asked. Liv was beside her, having whispered that question a short moment ago.

"Someone very important," the War Doctor told her, looking from the young to the oldest Minerva.

"So how exactly does this plan work?" Martha curiously asked. "Because, well, Minerva did say it was just a dream."

"And a crazy dream at that," the young Minerva added.

"Oh no," Ten marched straight up to her, surprising her by taking her hands. "You are my Clever Girl - and if this works, then I will forever have to hold onto you."

"She's not opposed to that plan," the oldest Minerva called out, smirking when she saw her younger self squeak and blush.

Clara hated to interrupt the moment but she, much like Martha, were still a bit confused on how they were to save Gallifrey. "So, how exactly are we gonna do it?"

"The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey, firing on it constantly," the War Doctor began for her sake, but then Ten joined in.

"The Sky Trench is holding, but what if the whole planet... just disappeared?"

"Tiny bit of an ask," Martha mumbled.

Ten gave her a look but went ahead and answered. "The Daleks would be firing on each other - they'd destroy themselves in their own crossfire."

"That is... _brilliant_ ," Clara blinked as she thought over the plan. "How come you idiots didn't think of this before?"

"Because we didn't have our Clever Girls with us at the moment," Eleven answered matter-of-factly.

"But where would Gallifrey be in the end?" Martha quizzically wondered.

"Frozen!" Ten exclaimed. "Frozen in an instant of time, safe and hidden away."

"Like a painting?" the young Minerva asked, looking fearful of the reaction to the comparison she made. What if it was stupid?

"Like a painting," the War Doctor agreed with her, giving her the first kind smile since they had met.

The young Minerva felt a lot better afterwards.

~ 0 ~

In the map room of Arcadia, remaining high Time Lords were bumbling for last resorts to win against the Daleks as they prepared to fired upon the planet. Certainly, they were not expecting for the Eleventh Doctor to appear on their projection...along with other Doctors.

"Hello, hello, Gallifrey High Command, this is the Doctor speaking," Eleven comically waved his hand.

"Hello! Also the Doctor," Ten popped in from his own TARDIS. "Can you hear me?"

"Obviously they can hear you if there's three of you," young Minerva mumbled, currently unable to be seen from the screen. Ten shot her an amused look, but couldn't stay irritated with her for long, not after discovering what they would soon be to each other.

The young Minerva matched his look with a confused one. "What?" she frowned. Obviously she hadn't said anything wrong. From across the console Martha rolled her eyes at them - would they really continue being dorky by just staring at each other? Well, so far, they had missed the ongoing conversation between the Doctors, the older Minerva and the Time Lords.

"Listen, we're flying the three TARDISes into your lower atmosphere," the older Minerva was in the middle of saying. "And we're positioned at equidistant intervals round the globe."

"We're just about ready to do it," the War Doctor declared, much to the bemusement of the General of the Time Lords.

"Ready to do what?"

"We're going to freeze Gallifrey," Eleven explained shortly.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Martha had just come to take position beside the young Minerva and Ten in front of the monitor when they heard someone go 'oh, oh, oh let me!' from the other line.

Clara Oswald stood tall (in her short height) and mighty in front of the monitor from their TARDIS. "We're gonna use the TARDISes and freeze Gallifrey in a single moment in time!" she said so excitedly like she had recited her lines from a play. She glanced at the older Minerva. "Did I get it right?"

"Perfect."

The General still had not quite captured the idea and so the War Doctor explained. "You know, like those Stasis Cubes? A single moment in time held in a parallel pocket universe."

"Except we're going to do it to a whole planet and all the people on it," Ten clarified.

"What? Even if that were possible, which it isn't, why would you do such a thing?" the General demanded, baffled.

"Because the alternative is burning," Eleven said darkly.

"And I've seen that," Ten became somber as well.

"And I never want to see it again," Eleven finished.

"We'd be lost in another universe…" the General said in thought, "...frozen in a single moment. We'd have nothing."

"Well that's not true," the older Minerva stepped into the conversation again. "You would have hope which - excuse my bluntness - is a whole lot more than what you have at the moment."

"But it's delusional," argued the General. "The calculations alone would take...hundreds of years."

"Of course it would," the older Minerva shrugged, not that troubled by it. "But that's no trouble for a clever husband of mine. Bless time signals."

Elias, carried by Clara, clapped his hands excitedly. "Smart!" he cheered on his parents, because he knew now everything would be better.

And right after, previous incarnations of the Doctor from the past began signing up for the duties.

"Calling the War Council of Gallifrey, this is the Doctor," went the very first Doctor.

"Good luck!" went the second.

"Stand by," said Three.

"Ready?" called Eight.

"Commencing calculations," the First Doctor announced.

"Soon be there," the fifth doctor assured.

"Just got to lock on to his coordinates," the Sixth announced.

"And for my next trick...!" Nine exclaimed.

The General had been left even more confounded than earlier. "I didn't know when I was well off! All 12 of them!"

"No, sir…" a deeper voice cut in, one that managed to grab both the older Minerva's and Elias' attention, "...all _thirteen_!"

In Clara's arms, Elias called for his mother, very excited to hear once again that future voice. "Mommy! Mommy!"

The older Minerva put a lone finger to her lips, and so did Elias when he understood it was time to be quiet. Both shared the same clever, knowing smile.

Down on Gallifrey, things were about to reach the max, eventually causing the General to agree to the silly plan he heard. It was better than dying after all.

"Do it, Doctor. Just do it. 'Do it!'"

"OK. Gentleman…" Eleven looked up and found his wife giving him a sharp look, "And ladies of course."

"Mhm," the older Minerva shared looks with Clara and Liv.

"We're ready.' Geronimo...!" Eleven flicked a switch on the console.

"Genmo!" Elias tried his hand at the word again and cheered for himself nonetheless.

In Ten's TARDIS, Ten was helping the young Minerva move the required switch. "Allons-y!" he exclaimed afterwards, causing her to laugh.

The War Doctor couldn't take much more of these childish words. "Oh, for God's sake! Gallifrey stands!" he flicked his switch and a blinding light took over the area as the plan beautifully set to work.

~ 0 ~

"Elias, come back here!" called the older Minerva to the toddler who had pushed himself up to his feet to run a couple of steps in the museum room before falling on his bottom. Elias giggled and glanced back at his mother, giggling louder, before he got up and repeated the cycle.

Minerva sighed of frustration and shook her head. Clara walked up to the bench the ginger was sitting on, holding a cup of tea. Without tearing her eyes off Elias, Minerva very quietly asked, "Where's Liv?"

"Mmm, I think she went off with your younger self and Dr. Jones," Clara discreetly took a look around the room to spot the blonde who was indeed missing. She could practically feel Liv's desparation to see the young Minerva even if it was from an invisible point.

"Ah."

"I don't suppose we'll ever know if we actually succeeded," the War Doctor's voice carried over from across the room. He stood beside his predecessors staring at the portrait of Time War. "But at worst, we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong."

The older Minerva got up and purposely made a 'hmph' as she walked towards the three. "I don't recall you being this moody," she made the remark with a sly smile. "Or perhaps that was because I wasn't with you at the time."

"Second one," mused both Ten and Eleven, making her roll her eyes.

"Idiots," she mumbled.

"Mommy!" Elias cried and she whirled around at light speed thinking that something had happened to him. Instead, she found Elias once again attempting to run this time towards the younger Minerva who was coming in with Martha.

The young Minerva looked dazzled by the excitement the toddler showed just for her presence. She bent down in front of him once he had fallen and laughed. "Why are you so happy, hm?" she tickled his stomach.

"Could be because your his mother," Martha said casually, sipping some tea from her cup she carried. "You know...cos you had him...with the Doctor," she just had to add with a smirk.

The young Minerva turned scarlet red at the comment and quickly stood straight again, eyes glued to Elias.

"Oh you are awful," Clara remarked as she walked past them to see the painting for herself and hopefully help out the younger Minerva. "I don't understand what this painting is called." She stopped to examine the painting and frowned.

"Well, there's some debate," Eleven began, "Either 'No More' or 'Gallifrey Falls'."

"Kinda suckish," appeared Liv on his other side with arms crossed.

"How did it get here?" Ten had to ask himself.

"No idea," Eleven breathed in.

"There's always something we don't know, isn't there?"

"One should certainly hope so," chuckled the War Doctor. He stopped moments later and turned to face the two. "Well, gentlemen...it has been an honor... and a privilege."

"Likewise," nodded Ten.

"Doctor," added Eleven with a big smile.

"And if I grow to be half the man that you are," the War Doctor said, glancing at the older Minerva who was already smiling at him.

"You already are," she walked up to him and took his hands. "I know everything you heard about me seems impossible, but c'mon, when has that ever been a barrier for us?" she winked and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Elias was making his way towards them, babbling on and loudly. He stopped right beside his ginger mother and looked up at the War Doctor. "Bye!" he flapped a hand that instantly identified with what the War Doctor had seen Eleven do earlier.

"Goodbye," he smiled softly. "You be good okay?"

By the cheeky smile Elias gave in return the War Doctor knew that was definitely his son.

"As if," the older Minerva rolled her eyes as she bent down to pick Elias up. "That's just not in your blood isn't it?"

"Not with the mother he has," she heard someone mumble behind her. She snapped her head back to Eleven. " _What_ did you say?"

"Nothing," Eleven quickly straightened up, eyes wide in alarm.

The War Doctor was quite amused, as was everyone else. He took in a deep breath. "I won't remember this, will I?"

Eleven sadly smiled. "The time streams are out of sync. You can't retain it, no."

"So I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey, rather than burn it," the War Doctor resigned to the fact. "I'll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment…" his smile returned momentarily. "I _am_ the Doctor again. Thank you." He turned to the three neatly parked TARDISes and laughed. "Which one is mine?" He walked to the one parked farthest and walked in.

"If he can't remember that all this happened...that means we won't remember," the younger Minerva had fit in the puzzles quite fast. She walked up to the group with sad eyes. "I won't remember who I get to be…" Ten moved past the others to meet with her, ready to comfort her despite his own fears of forgetting. "We won't remember about _us_."

"I know," Ten nodded, attempting to wear a smile just for her. "But you are...my _wife_ ," he chuckled.

"I want to remember," young Minerva said quietly.

"No you don't," Eleven suddenly said, and she snapped her head his way, looking baffled by his statement. "You don't want to know what's in store - You want to _live_ it. Because each moment we shared...it's amazing, and you don't want to ruin the surprise, do you?"

The young Minerva considered his words and looked back at Ten who was doing the same thing. "I hadn't thought about it that way…" she admitted.

"Live in the moment," the older Minerva added. "I think that's the best type of path."

"Not like we have much of a choice," mused Ten, still rather sadly. He upheld a smile, though, for his own Minerva, and turned to face their elder versions. "I suppose this is where we part…"

"Overly weird trip if you asked me," mumbled Martha who was already making her way towards their TARDIS. "I would like some sleep please."

"Nice to see you too, Martha!" the older Minerva called with a laugh.

Martha stopped and glanced around the doors, suddenly serious. "Tell me you and I are still friends."

"Always and forever, Martha," assured the older Minerva.

"Excellent," Martha nodded in approval. "Because I am most certainly looking forwards to making fun of this little situation-" she pointed directly at Elias, "- in the future. I'm just sad you didn't get the Elizabeth."

Elias pouted. "Aunt Martha?" he asked sadly, only understanding that she didn't wasn't very happy he was there instead.

"Don't worry little buddy, you'll probably get a little sister sometime later!" And with a wink, Martha disappeared into the TARDIS.

"I am so gonna get her for that later," the older Minerva sighed as she now toddled with the babbling Elias in her arms.

"I like her," declared Clara, her face looking impressed. "Can I meet her now?" she asked from her aliens. "The Martha in the present I meant."

"Sure," Eleven shrugged.

"We should get going too, Doctor," young Minerva nudged Ten beside her, right before sneezing. "Oh! Where'd that come from?"

The older Minerva then remembered this was around the time she had suffered a terrible cold, supposedly from Martha in the 1960s but now it appeared it was actually from all their running around in early England. She smiled nonetheless and stepped forwards with Elias. "What do we say, El?"

Elias excitedly said, "Bye Mommy!" he waved at young Minerva who once again entered a state of fluster.

Meeting her elder version's gaze, the young Minerva related, "I just can't believe he's actually _mine_ …"

"Better believe it, cos he's got your genes," the older Minerva said, ruffling Elias' ginger hair.

"And he's _ginger_ ," huffed Ten, making Elias giggle and attempt to cover his hair with his hands.

"Mine!"

Ten smiled at Elias. He seemed like a very bubbly little toddler, definitely full of energy and the Doctor knew that was himself all right. "Goodbye, Elias," he said softly.

Elias dropped his hands and raised one to wave back. "Bye, Daddy!" He then put a hand to his mouth and blew a kiss. "Yun!"

"He's saying run," the older Minerva laughed, "He knows that's what we always do."

"He's adorable," young Minerva clapped her hands, chuckling.

"Get's that from me, you know," Eleven stepped forwards, ignoring his wife's roll of eyes behind.

"I like to see your cockiness doesn't die with time," young Minerva couldn't help laugh again.

"And you can't imagine what it has been seeing how far you've come along, my Clever Girl," Eleven stood straight, admiring the young woman. He then leaned down to her small stature and kissed her cheek.

Blushing, the young Minerva wiggled her fingers at him in a form of a wave. "Bye…" she cleared her throat and started making her way towards the TARDIS, stopping only to mumble a goodbye to Clara as well.

"Cheat," Ten spat at Eleven.

"Boys," the older Minerva warned playfully.

"I'm going," Ten huffed again and moved for his TARDIS as well.

"Ahem," the older Minerva called, now wearing a sudden pout across her lips. "How come my younger self got a goodbye and I didn't?"

"What?" Ten looked quickly between the ginger and the TARDIS. He raised his eyebrows for a moment then scurried right back.

Eleven frowned and was about to cut in when Clara kept him back. It was only fair after all.

"That's more like it," Minerva chuckled as Ten took her hand. "I always liked it when you did that, actually."

Ten smiled and kissed the back of her hand, for the first time gazing in her eyes and realizing how much older they were in comparison to _his_ Minerva's. He didn't actually know how it was possible for her to be Kaeya and vice versa, but whatever it was it meant Minerva was a lot older than she appeared...and yet his Minerva didn't yet display the age that this ginger Minerva did. But this ginger Minerva had probably gone through a lot - hell, she had a kid now. Still, what Ten was able to decide so instantly was her beauty and kindness was still intact.

"Bye," the older Minerva whispered, having taken the moment to really process that she would once again have to say goodbye to this version of her husband.

"Goodbye…" Ten straightened up with a light smile. He gave a nod to his elder self and Clara then walked for the TARDIS.

Liv had appeared beside the TARDIS where Ten had reached to open, and with a tilted head wondered out loud, "I wasn't there when you regenerated Doctor - I think I was busy with Clara. What happened?"

Ten was just about to open the door when a thought occurred to him and he glanced back at Eleven. "My Minerva's inside and she can't hear. So tell me, where exactly are we going? What's the place you didn't want to tell me earlier?"

The older Minerva looked at Eleven sadly. "Oh, you didn't…"

"What?" Ten half demanded then.

"Trenzalore," Eleven said grimly. "It's where we're buried - we die in battle among millions."

"But that's not how it's gonna be," promised the older Minerva then.

"That's how the story ends-"

"It's not so quit saying it," she snapped. "I'm not gonna let it happen," she looked at Ten, "I'm not."

Somewhat reassured, Ten graced a smile. "Good to know my future's in safe hands."

"As is mine with you," Minerva winked.

Ten finally open the TARDIS doors and walked on in. A moment later, the TARDIS dematerialized from the spot, leaving only the current TARDIS there.

"Yowzah," Liv finally appeared to the entire place, faking a bead of sweat on her forehead. "What a day!"

Elias giggled, "Auntie Liv!"

"Do you guys need a moment alone?" Clara asked the alien pair, already motioning for Elias to be handed over.

"How would you know that?" the Doctor shot her a playful look.

"Let's call it a hunch," Clara chuckled and took Elias into her arms.

"Ca-yah! Roger!" Elias immediately demanded and pointed a small finger at the TARDIS. "Roger! Roger!"

"Yeah, alright," Clara rolled her eyes and turned for the TARDIS.

"Ca-yah! And...and...and Ca-yah!"

"I'm right here, Elias, now what is it?"

Minerva waited until the human was gone with her son and Liv had gone inside before she turned to the Doctor. "Martian, how can I...wow," she settled on for a lack of better words.

"Wow?" the Doctor.

"Don't you laugh at me," warned Minerva who took his hands. "I've just got no words, alright? Something like this is definitely something that _would_ happen to us - to you."

"Like what? This?"

Minerva stepped closer to him and touched his face. "Do you realize that I was completely right? I knew you wouldn't burn your home again."

"Oh, Clever Girl, but now we don't even know what happened to it," the Doctor said, his eyes lowering.

"Whatever did, we know that we didn't burn it," Minerva pressed a small kiss to his lips. She moved around him, turning him to face the great painting. "I never understood your concept for art - it's so weird."

"It's not 'weird' - although I'd settle for peculiar instead," said a different, elderly voice. Both Minerva and the Doctor turned to find an elderly man, with a striking resemblance to the Doctor's fourth incarnation.

"Oh, we always remember faces, don't we Doctor?" Minerva said with a wide smile.

"Always," he agreed.

The man smiled. "I know you do, and in years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few but just...the old favorites, eh?"

"Funny," pointed Minerva.

"You were curious about this painting, I think," the man gestured to the painting beside the pair.

"Wha - are you the curator?" Minerva blinked and looked up at the Doctor.

"I acquired it in remarkable circumstances," the Curator nodded. "What do you make of the title?"

"Which title? There's two," the Doctor frowned. "No More... or Gallifrey Falls?"

"Oh, you see, that's where everybody's wrong. It's all one title. _Gallifrey Falls No More_. Now, what would you think that means, eh?"

This news had both Minerva and the Doctor shell shocked. The Doctor glanced back at the painting. "That Gallifrey didn't fall. It worked. It's still out there."

"I'm only a humble curator - I'm sure I wouldn't know," the Curator turned to walk off.

"Then where is it?" called the Doctor.

"Where is it indeed? Lost - shh! - perhaps. Things do get lost, you know. Now you must excuse me. Oh... you have a lot to do."

"Do we?" Minerva tilted her head in thought.

"Mm…"

"Is that what I'm supposed to do now? Go looking for Gallifrey?" the Doctor had to call again, mildly confounded.

"Oh, it's entirely up to you. Your choice. I can only tell you what I would do, if I were you…" the Curator began to laugh, "Oh...! If I were you…perhaps I was you, of perhaps... you are me." He stuck a hand out to shake with the Doctor. "Congratulations."

"Thank you very much," the Doctor replied.

The Curator shook Minerva's hand next. "Or perhaps it doesn't matter either way. Who knows? Who...knows?" Minerva looked fascinated at the man as he tapped the side of his nose.

When he was gone, Minerva released a big breath. "Bang!"

The Doctor gave her an amused look. "Bang?"

She whirled to face him. "We finished with a big bang! Your home, my Martian, it's still out there." She clapped her hands on either side of his face and planted a big kiss on him. "And I'm gonna help you find it!"

The Doctor, albeit dazed by her kiss, looked surprised at her. "You will?"

Minerva nodded, a little more sober. "Absolutely, my Martian. This is your home - our son's home - and you will see it."

"It was yours once too," the Doctor said quietly, gently touching her cheek.

Minerva's smile softened. "Once. But it was a lot more yours than mine and together we _are_ gonna find it."

"Quite right as always, Clever Girl," the Doctor nodded and kissed her once more before leading her to their TARDIS.

* * *

 _Clara sometimes asks Minerva and I if we dream. Of course we dream, we tell her. Everybody dreams. 'But what do you dream about', she'll ask. The same thing everybody dreams about, we tell her. We dream about where we're going. She always laughs at that. 'But you're not going anywhere, you're just wandering about.'_

 _That's not true. Not any more. There's a new destination. **My** journey is the same as yours, the same as anyones. It's taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I'm going. Where I've always been going. My home, the long way round. And this time, I have a family to help me._

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Do you guys have any idea how long I've had this chapter ready to go for you!? I love it and I hope you've all loved it too! And I know there was someone at one point asking if Rose was going to be making an appearance but I decided for a very specific point in Minerva's timeline to utilize - in this case it was the very point where the young Minerva was barely getting herself together. She's not prepared to actually fight and speak her mind unlike the Minerva we now know. I hope that makes sense for you guys! And I think it was pretty obvious that in this case the Moment would also be taking a form of Minerva considering she's the only woman that the Doctor has ever truly loved. For the last part I emphasized that this new journey for home the Doctor is taking is _his_ because Minerva doesn't identify with Gallifrey except for her regeneration ability. She doesn't see it as home but of course would never stop the Doctor from seeking it out now that it's back.

 **For the review:**

Did you mean the ex-machina movie that came out with Alicia Vikander? Never actually seen it so I don't know if that was good or bad lmao. But in any case, thanks for reading & commenting!

* * *

And so...the next chapter...*sniffs* is the last chapter with our dear 11. It's already making me cry . Until next time guys!


	17. A Farewell

"Mommy, I go Daddy?" Elias pointed as he watched his mother scramble all around the TARDIS trying to teleport the Doctor back from, well, a Dalek ship.

"Not now, Elias, Mommy's busy - play with Roger, hm?" Minerva rushed past the toddler sitting in a little corner beside the jump chair with a blanket under him and several toys. "Doctor!" She sighed of relief when her husband successfully teleported back.

"Minerva!" the Doctor exclaimed, sounding rather put off. "A Dalek ship! You put me on a Dalek ship!"

"Excuse me?" Minerva drew out those two words and placed her hands on her hips, eyebrows arching upwards.

Elias saw this and covered his eyes. "Uh-oh!"

" _I_ put _you_ on a Dalek ship?" Minerva repeated, indignant. "I don't seem to recall me being metal…and, oh yeah, a single _head_!" She flapped a hand towards the lone head of a Cyberman propped on the console.

"Right…" the Doctor scratched his hair and briefly glanced at the Cyberman head.

Elias dropped his hands and giggled. "Hanyles!"

"Han _d_ les," the Doctor corrected him.

"I want that thing out," Minerva stared at the head with disgust. "It's done nothing good for us. I mean, here you thought it might help us figure out the message that planet's sending out but so far it's been useless."

The Doctor opened his mouth for what he was sure would be a clever response. However, the phone outside the TARDIS began to ring.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "See? Instead of fiddling with this stupid thing you could've fixed the phone by now."

"I will," the Doctor assured and backtracked for the doors. He called out to 'Handles' as he did so. "Remind me I've got to patch the telephone back through the console unit."

"Attention!" went Handles, "Information available."

Thinking it important, the Doctor stopped. "OK?"

"You must patch the telephone device back through the console unit."

Minerva groaned and moved towards Elias. "Useless!"

"I didn't mean now," the Doctor went back to the metal head. "Remind me later."

"When?"

"I don't know, just later, just pick a time."

"When?"

"I don't know, just any old time. When you think I've forgotten."

"When?"

"Oh my God," Minerva rubbed her face. "Can't I just ice that thing already?"

"No," the Doctor quickly pointed at her before continuing with Handles. "Just pick a random number, express that number as a quantity of minutes, and when that time has elapsed, remind me to patch the telephone back through the console unit."

The moment he turned towards the door, Liv's face shined on the console monitor. "Clara's got a problem and you're not answering the phone!"

"Auntie Liv!" Elias pushed himself up and hurried for the side of the console with the monitor. Minerva picked him up so that they both could see the blonde.

"You managed to get a video chat opened?" Minerva was frankly bemused Liv would go through this trouble just because they were failing to answer the phone on time.

"Yes, miraculously my ability to handle things-" Liv raised her hands, wiggling her fingers which made Elias giggle, "-comes a lot more now."

"So, what's wrong with Clara, then?"

"She's freaking out!" Liv suddenly exclaimed like _she_ was having the problem. Minerva blinked but before she could say anything, she heard the Doctor clearly scolding Clara over the phone for practically shouting at his ear. "She needs a boyfriend!" Liv continued in the sudden frantic tone she picked up.

Once again, Minerva looked over to the Doctor as he clearly explained to Clara, "I'm happily married, Clara, I can't be your boyfriend."

Liv put a hand on her head, obviously surprised herself at her outburst. "Woah, that was weird. Anyways," she looked at her sister once more in that serene yet annoyed look she had upon first entering, "Clara's got a problem."

"Yeah, I kinda got that," Minerva nodded, ignoring Liv rolling her eyes. She saw the Doctor coming back, still on the phone but not at all interested. "You might as well tell _me_ because that Doctor isn't gonna get it."

"Clara needs a boyfriend."

"Ew," Elias made a face. "No, Ca-yah." Why would she want a boyfriend? That was icky.

"Not an actual one," Liv explained as Minerva had also made a face. "She has family coming over for Christmas dinner-"

"Is it Christmas already?" Minerva said thoughtfully, "Nice, I think I'll finally show her to the Monsoon then. I've been putting together a little something to say sorry for all the mistrust in the past-"

Liv was all for the apologies and trips but Clara needed some help fast. "I, Minerva you're not listening-"

"Sorry."

"Clara accidentally invented a boyfriend to her family and now she's freaking out cos she doesn't have one."

"Oooh, I see the problem now," Minerva nodded. "It's fine - she can borrow the Doctor."

Hearing his name in such a foul deal, the Time Lord looked up from Handles. "Wha - hey! You can't just let people borrow me!"

Minerva looked unbothered. "I just did, dear, but don't worry, Clara will treat you nice." She suddenly looked to Liv, dead serious. "Although if there is snogging I will have to destroy her."

"But…" the Doctor huffed, "...why can't Elias go?"

Elias responded much like his father had with an annoyed face. "NO!" He actually shouted. "No! No! No! No!"

Minerva fumbled with the toddler in her arms. "Way to go, Martian. Elias, honey, you're not doing it don't worry."

"You act like Clara's bad - the both of you," Liv shook her head. "C'mon, El, you know Clara is friend. Why are you mean to her?"

"Funny," Elias said with a cheeky smile.

Unamused, Liv looked to Minerva. "Your boys?"

"I don't claim them," the ginger shook her head.

Almost immediately afterwards, the Doctor finished tweaking Handles and declared there was a new ship to investigate. Despite Minerva giving him looks of doom, he hurried off ignoring the fact Clara was in desperate need of their help. He just didn't want to be someone's boyfriend that wasn't Minerva! Did no one understand that?

"Where's he going to?" Liv wondered after the Doctor had finally left.

Minerva sighed, "I have a pretty good idea, you know, but I'm trying to be optimistic here."

Elias giggled in his mother's arms. "Daddy's trouble…"

Liv rubbed her face. "Okay, what do I tell Clara? She's freaking out!"

"I think I've noticed," Minerva gave her a meaningful look but Liv was too focused on Clara to notice. "Tell Clara not to worry, I will have my husband prepped and ready for her."

"Thank you," Liv said in true gratefulness before ending the video chat.

Seconds later, the Doctor screamed from outside to Minerva for help.

~ 0 ~

"What the hell is this show?" Liv had sat on the edge of Clara's couch, which, due to her small flat, was almost right next to the dining table where Clara's father, stepmother and grandmother were gathered at. Liv wished she could grab the remote and turn off the obnoxious show but she wasn't supposed to show herself to Clara's family so she forced herself not to move anything and keep herself only visible to Clara.

She got up from the couch when she noticed Clara was once again back in the kitchen trying to salvage Christmas dinner. She popped in right beside Clara, startling her in the process. "It's not cooking," she remarked after staring into the little oven window where the raw turkey was set in.

"Where are they?" Clara demanded from her, partially frustrated and partially stressed. "You said they were coming! So where are they!?"

"Calm down, Clara," Liv set her hands on Clara's shoulders, mimicking the human to breathe. "She's coming, and she's bringing her husband to be your boyfriend."

And, much to Clara's joy, they both began hearing the wheezing TARDIS outside. Without a second thought, or word to Liv, Clara dashed out of the kitchen. She came running in ready to greet them with a 'Merry Christmas' and a very big 'thank you' for coming to help her but she stumbled into a pause when she saw the two aliens arguing with each other, one on either side of the console.

"I'm _not_ doing it, Doctor!" Minerva was shouting, waving a hand for emphasis on her point. "So you can just forget it!"

"But I did it already and it's custom!" the Doctor waved a tiny pill in his hand, one Minerva refused to even look at.

Elias was in his play pen, fiddling with with his teddy bear Roger, uninterested in what was going on around him.

"Well she can kiss my-" Minerva abruptly stopped, eyes flickering to Elias, "...she can go to you know where," she amended quietly.

"Um...hello?" Clara awkwardly waved a hand from her spot near the rails. "What's going on?"

"Thanks for leaving me back there," Liv appeared beside her, looking crossed.

"Hello Clara," Minerva walked over to hug them both. "Liv."

"What's going on?" Clara asked again, glancing at the Doctor who still looked pretty peeved.

"Nothing important," Minerva stepped back and happily said, "Merry Christmas! I didn't know it was Christmas already - I have a surprise for you Clara."

Clara's attention was drawn from the Doctor as Minerva said it. "What? For me?" her eyes widened. "But you didn't even know it was Christmas."

Minerva chuckled and went back to the console. "It's fine, I've been having the Monsoon working on it for a long time now. I'm glad to say you'll be the first human to see it."

As frustrated and nervous as she was, Clara let loose a smile. "Really? The first?"

"Mhm," Minerva was busy setting the controls on the console but the Doctor slapped his hands over hers again, returning to the original topic.

"Minerva, for the love of God, we have to know. We have to go there and-"

"I'm not doing it," Minerva snatched her hands back and took the pill from him. She let it drop to the floor where she stomped a foot over it. She crossed her arms and leaned on her hip, challenging him obviously.

"What's going on here and when is it appropriate to laugh?" Liv asked.

"It's not funny," snapped the Doctor but didn't look at her. He rubbed his face and endeavored on one last try with his wife. "Look, it's their custom, it's to show we are in peace. Let's be respectful, no?"

"I can't show respect to this woman who was part of the very same organization that kidnapped my daughter and turned her into a weapon," Minerva declared.

"You know she's technically not the leader…" the Doctor began but trailed off when Minerva's face glowed with red from her anger.

"She helps _breed_ those stupid Silence therefore she _is_ part of the putrid organization she calls 'Church'."

Clara looked at Liv with shocked wide eyes, smart enough to not openly ask what Minerva was going on about. All she knew was that she had never seen Minerva this angry.

The Doctor, too, knew it was a lost cause. He couldn't push it more and force it on her so he gave up. "Okay. But, you at least have to hold your tongue."

"We'll see," Minerva patted his cheek. "Clara, your boyfriend's ready!" she declared. "And don't you worry, I've programed the hologram clothes to go directly into yours, and your family's visual cortexes so there won't be a problem."

"You programmed the what now?" Clara made a face.

"Hologram clothes," Minerva said, not too pleased about it apparently.

"What…?"

"That's what we're fighting about," Minerva rolled her eyes. "Where we need to go requires nudity as a gesture of good will. My idiot husband is doing it and wanted me to do it as well."

Still confused, Clara crossed her arms and asked, "But neither of you are naked."

" _He_ is," Minerva chucked a thumb in the Doctor's direction. "But with the hologram projections you can make anyone see you in clothes."

"So what was the pill for?"

"That was for one's self comfort. It makes you feel like you're wearing clothes."

"Creepy," declared Clara after a moment of thinking about it. "So wait," she suddenly glanced at the Doctor, but quickly looked away from self-conscious, "Does that mean Liv can…?" she trailed off and glanced at her not-so-imaginary friend.

"No I can see the clothes," she answered calmly, and practically relieved.

Silently, Minerva stared at the two pseudo-sisters. Missing the suspicious face, Minerva turned back for the console. "I'll only need a moment. I'm sending Elias to my grandfather's."

"No," Elias looked up, pouting. "No grampah."

Minerva pointed at him. "Yes, grandpa."

The Doctor walked over the play pen and bent down. "Don't you want to go spend time with your grandfather on the Monsoon?"

"No msoon," Elias repeated sadly, his lips puckered into his small pout. "Church?"

"Oh absolutely not," Minerva declared from her spot, shaking her head.

Elias, upset, chucked his teddy bear to the side."No msoon! No msoon!"

"Young man, you are going and that is that," Minerva said, but not that it mattered as Elias began to cry.

"Up you go, my El," the Doctor picked up the toddler and settled him on his side. "Now tell you what, you can get grandpa Mayar to take you to the lake. C'mon Elias, don't cry…"

Elias sniffled. "No, msoon. No!"

"Don't you wanna go see the pretty lake with the big fishes inside? Remember the fishies?"

Elias stuck a finger inside his mouth as he continued sniffle. He cast his big green eyes at his mother.

Minerva softened up at the sight of him. She walked around the console and took him from the Doctor, planting a big kiss on his ginger hair. "I love you my little Martian. But Mommy is scared that you're gonna get hurt. I promise you tomorrow I will take you to see Elizabeth to play with, hm?"

Defeated, Elias let his head fall on Minerva's shoulder. "Fishies," he finally said.

"Yes, you get to see the fishies today," Minerva gave him another kiss and looked at the Doctor. "Go to Clara, be a good boyfriend. I'll meet you in a bit."

"I don't wanna be a boyfriend," the Doctor sighed and glanced at Clara. "There will be no snogging of any kind!"

Immediately, Clara's hands went high in the air. "I am fine with that."

The Doctor made another gesture as if to reinstate his only condition. He then followed her out of the TARDIS and left Minerva to pilot it to the Monsoon. All in the meanwhile, Elias babbled on and Minerva was sure she had heard 'treats' somewhere in those words.

"You want a treat because you don't get to go?" Minerva mused, and Elias nodded, clutching his teddy bear.

"Skiker cookies," he said, making Minerva chuckle again. She landed the TARDIS gently, unlike the Doctor tended to do, and headed for the doors.

"Well, maybe we can get grandma Isadora to make some good snicker doodles for Christmas," she said as a compromise, something Elias cheered to. She stepped out into the hallway where her grandfather, Mayar, was already awaiting.

"No Doctor this time?" he asked, sounding slightly concerned.

"Nah, I loaned him to Clara for a moment." Minerva walked over and handed Elias to him. "I need you to babysit. Where the Doctor and I are going I'd rather Elias not see."

"Mmm? And where is that?"

Minerva slightly opened her mouth to answer but at the last moment decided against it. There were plenty of enemies situated around the mysterious planet and she knew grandfather would be completely against them trying to figure out its mystery.

"Just, somewhere," she patted Elias on the head and kissed his forehead. "You be good to grandpa, okay?"

Elias nodded. "K, Mommy. Skiker cookies?" he asked as an after thought.

"We will see," Minerva said before addressing her grandfather. "You remember that project I was working on? Project C?"

"Who could forget," Mayar shook his head. "It's such a silly thing-"

"It's not, hush," Minerva planted a kiss on his cheek. "I want you to get it running for when we come back for Elias."

"What?" Mayar asked, now looking overly surprised. "Why now?"

"Because I want Clara to see them - she's going to be the first one to see it all out in the open!"

"Kaeya…"

Minerva began backtracking towards the TARDIS, practically beaming as she thought of the moment Clara would see her grand project. "Get to work please! We'll be back at the end of the day I imagine!" She twirled around and ran inside, leaving Mayar to wonder what new ideas his granddaughter would come up with next.

She left the TARDIS back on the green fields of the Powell Estate, and made way for Clara's apartment. She couldn't lie to herself that the rebuilt building made her feel a little queasy inside. After all, it had been like a second home with Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith. But now, it belonged to the Oswalds - and her sister.

"Merry Christmas!" She exclaimed the moment Clara let her inside. She saw the small table set up by the living room with all the Oswalds and went to greet them individually.

"This is my friend, Minerva," Clara introduced the ginger. "Invited her too-"

"Ooh, are those crackers," Minerva had spotted a golden Christmas cracker beside Clara's grandmother. "You know, all these years and I still don't understand the point of these." She lifted it up and turned it over to examine it. "Shiny, though."

"American, my dear?" Clara's grandmother asked curiously, reaching to take the cracker from Minerva.

"Yes," Minerva nodded, putting her hands together in front of her. "We don't, um, we don't do that sort of stuff. And then there's the turkey which I don't understand either - actually, I'm surprised there _isn't_ one set around here…" she had been examining the different meals placed on the table when there was a loud clang in the kitchen followed by the Doctor's yelp. "And the Doctor…?" she glanced at Clara.

"In the kitchen," Clara immediately rushed out and Minerva followed her.

The Doctor had dropped a pan from the shelf and was in the middle of picking it up when the two women came in. Liv sat on the counter looking mildly amused of what was going on.

"What's going on?" Minerva walked further in and took the pan from the Doctor.

"I thought we could use some fish fingers and custard," he shrugged. "But Clara doesn't seem to have any."

"Fish fingers and what?" the brunette was making a face of utter disgust.

"Thank you Amelia Pond," Liv laughed softly and hopped off the counter. She made way for the wall oven where Clara was currently trying to cook a turkey. She peered through the small window and called back to Clara. "Clara, you think this thing will ever be cooked?"

"What do you care? You don't eat," Clara reminded her as she came up beside Liv to see the how the turkey was going.

"Alas, one of the disadvantages of being in limbo," Liv dramatically sighed.

"Oh that's never going to work," called the Doctor who was busy searching for fish fingers in the freezer for the third time.

Clara whipped her head back. "What? Why?"

"It doesn't look like the oven is on properly," Minerva came over to inspect. "Or maybe it's not strong enough to cook it…"

Clara anxiously bit into her index finger and glanced at Minerva hopefully. "Can't you app it or something?"

"App it?" repeated Minerva, confused.

"On the Doctor's screwdriver or something. Can't you just app it?"

The Doctor scoffed, letting the fridge door close as he turned around. "Most certainly not, it doesn't do turkey. Nothing does turkey. You'd need a time machine."

Clara swayed her head until she landed eyes on Minerva. "Oh you have got to be kidding me," Minerva shook her head.

"What?" the Doctor cluelessly asked, looking between the two women.

"I'll meet you there," Liv popped out of the kitchen with a wave.

"Where we going?" the Doctor asked, further confused as the two other women began making preparations to take the turkey out of the oven.

~ 0 ~

"You can't keep using the TARDIS like this," the Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS and let Minerva and Clara walk inside first.

"Like what?" Clara innocently asked, struggling to hold the large turkey on the pan in her arms.

"Missed birthdays, restaurant bookings. And please just learn how to use iPlayer," the Doctor closed the door.

"I gotta say, I've never done direct vortex cooking," Minerva chuckled as they walked underneath the console.

"Why not?" Liv asked, appearing beside Clara as they came to a stop.

"I don't know, I tend to stay away from the vortex underneath the console. It's brought us many adventures and more dangerous ones."

"Like what?" Clara inquired, sounding disbelieving.

"Well, for starters, it brought the Doctor and I to a parallel universe where vampires and witches existed."

"Oh, don't remind me of that guy," the Doctor muttered as he opened up one of the panels for Clara to set the pan inside.

"Get out of town," Clara laughed. "That never happened!"

"Yeah it did. Remember that little bracelet with the norse symbols you found the other day?" Minerva asked and Clara nodded. "A very nice woman made it and she happened to be a witch who got the Doctor and I home."

"I stand corrected," Clara said incredulously before laughing. She only stopped when she heard something go 'Information available' above. "What's that?"

"It's good, trust me," Liv nudged Clara on her side before vanishing and reappearing upstairs by the console.

Clara had quite the surprise when she saw the lone Cyberman head propped on the console. She hadn't noticed it before due to her problem of a boyfriend.

"Don't worry, all organics are gone," the Doctor went straight for the metal head. "There's a full set of data banks inside. Found it at the Maldovar market."

"I hate that place," Minerva muttered as the Doctor set the TARDIS in motion.

"Planet identified, from analysis of message," Handles reported.

"Right cool, go on, then," the Doctor gestured as if the head actually saw anything. "OK, tell us, what is the planet? Go on."

"Processing official designation. Processing."

"OK, in your own time, dear. Don't rush!"

"So, why haven't you just gone down there and had a look?" Clara asked the two suspiciously. Any other time they would've already gone down.

"It's shielded," Minerva shrugged, looking at the monitor that held the mysterious planet on the screen. "The TARDIS can't break through it."

"Gallifrey."

There was a deadly silence, and all eyes landed on the Doctor.

"What did you say?" he turned around and started for the metal head.

"Gallifrey."

"What are you talking about? Gallifrey? What do you mean?"

Minerva attempted to reach out for him but decided it against it, looking quite unsure of her next movements.

"Confirmed," Handles repeated. "Planet designation - Gallifrey."

The Doctor had a mini glare down with Handles before marching staight for it, snatching it from its place and moving for the monitor. "You see THAT?" he pointed the monitor for the metal head. "Gallifrey is my home, I know it when I see it. _That_ is not Gallifrey!"

The three women flinched when he slammed the head on the console. Minerva gave him a side hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"It's not Gallifrey. Gallifrey's gone," he said again, this time sounding like he was just talking with Minerva. She leaned her head on his arm and rubbed his back.

"Unless... unless you saved it," Clara was afraid to pitch in the idea. "You thought you might have."

"Even if it survived, it's gone from this universe," Minerva explained quietly. "That's why it's bit complex trying to find it."

There was a reverberating blast from outside that mildly rocked everyone except Liv. "What's that?" She asked.

The Doctor hurried towards the doors and checked outside for the cause of blast. There they saw a large, black, multi-story ship flying above.

"Papal Mainframe," the Doctor announced quite pleased. "It's like a great, big flying church. The first ship to arrive. They are the ones who shielded the planet. They can get us down there."

Suddenly, a hologram of a woman appeared against the unknown ship. The Doctor instinctively bowed.

"Don't bow!" Minerva hissed.

Clara looked between the two aliens, noticing right off their distinct reactions to the mysterious woman from the other ship. "A...friend of yours?"

"That woman is never my friend," Minerva declared and looked away.

"She's Tasha Lem, the Mother Superious," the Doctor answered, glancing at the hologram that was now gesturing them to board. "Oh, she's inviting us aboard."

"Why?" Clara asked, seeing Minerva still fuming by the console.

"Because I asked her. Swallow this." He handed Clara a yellow pill which she took without debate.

"What is it?" she asked seconds after she had swallowed down.

"Your hologram projector, remember? You can't go to church with your clothes on!"

Clara's eyes widened.

"Liv, I suggest not make yourself visible to them," the Doctor warned as he returned to the console. "Can't give a ghost a hologram projector "

"This ghost wouldn't take it anyways," Liv promptly clarified.

"And this Queen isn't taking it either," Minerva stayed firm on her decision.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and Minerva led Clara, and the invisible Liv, down a red carpet walkway inside a gloomy hallway. Tasha Lem, and a Colonel, awaited them at the end on a dais.

"I don't feel like I'm wearing anything," Clara whispered to them, but only the Doctor was able to opinionate.

"I know, relaxing isn't it?" the Doctor chuckled.

"What is this place?" Clara again asked, feeling it far too dark and gloomy for her like.

"The Church of the Papal Mainframe - security hub of the known universe."

"A security church?" Liv raised a doubting eyebrow.

"Yep. Keeping you safe in this world and the next!" The Doctor led the three women to a stop in front of the dais and addressed Tasha. "I venerate the exaltation of the Mother Superious."

Clara was nervous enough wondering what she was supposed to do. The Doctor had bowed but Minerva remained rigid with arms crossed and a terrible glare on the people they were supposed to be kind to.

"Welcome to the Church of the Papal Mainframe. Your nudity is appreciated," the Colonel spoke first, and at the last comment gave Minerva a disapproving look...which she caught.

"I thought about it," she began, overly sarcastic, "And then I went 'Wait a minute, that would be showing my respect'," her face turned sour and hateful, "And I _don't_ respect _you_."

The Doctor slapped a hand over his forehead. Clara too felt her stomach churn as Tasha walked down the steps to them.

"I could have you thrown out for that," Tasha warned, but there was no meaning behind it. She knew Minerva's problem all too well. "At the very least have you arrested. Or sacrificed."

"Do it," Minerva challenged. "I'd love to see what the Silver Monsoon and my allies do next."

Tasha raised her eyebrows then looked over at the Doctor with a saucy smile. "Spicy, I told you I liked her."

The Doctor was weary by this point and could only give a weakened smile. Liv appeared beside him doing her best not to laugh. "You look like you're about to pass out," she snorted instead.

The Doctor flat out ignored her and addressed Tasha again, hoping to God Minerva wouldn't say more. "Clara, this is Tasha Lem, the Head of the Church of the Papal Mainframe. Tash, this is our good friend, Clara Oswald. Miss Clara Oswald."

Tara nodded in acknowledgment before calling to the Colonel. "We'll go to my chapel. All honors in place, no sacrifices required."

As she led them the Doctor nearly lost it when he heard Minerva mumble, 'I'll sacrifice _you_ if you give me the chance.'

Tasha led them to her chapel and upon reaching the doors, politely asked Clara to stay outside. Clara honestly would rather be on the other side of the doors when Minerva cracked and attacked Tasha...so she didn't even argue.

"I hate this room," was the first thing Minerva uttered upon walking into the new room.

Tasha sent her an amused smile as she walked to one side of the room where golden goblets and a wine case sat over a table.

"And this alter looks like a bed," Minerva added, her face coturned into a deep scowl. She saw the Doctor begging her to stop for their sake but she flatout ignored them.

"That bed looks like an altar," countered Tasha, now turning back with two golden goblets in hand.

"My husband doesn't drink," Minerva declared, crossing her arms. "And I frankly would rather throw myself into a volcano than have a drink with you."

Tasha rolled her eyes, set the goblets on a smaller table beside the alter/bed then moved over to where a small control panel sat. She pressed a blue button and let a message play out loud, not that it mattered as it said no actual words. "That message... is transmitting through all of space and time. What did it make you feel?"

The Doctor made a face. "Feel?"

"Every sentient being in the universe who detected that signal felt something. Something overpowering."

"What?"

"Fear. Pure, unadulterated dread."

An although Minerva wanted nothing more than to continue making snide remarks at Tasha and the entire church system, she knew things were about to get worse.

~ 0 ~

"I have never seen Minerva this angry," Clara was talking to Liv outside the chapel doors. She was trying not to look so curious in front of Liv but it was of no use. "I didn't take her for the religious one - I mean I know she has her spirit beliefs - but she seems to really hate Tasha."

"It's not just Tasha specifically - it's the entire Church system," corrected Liv, who, Clara noticed, looked more or less in the same distasteful appearance as Minerva did.

"Why don't you like them?" Clara asked then.

"Same reason Minerva doesn't," Liv turned to face Clara who remained waiting in silence. "Clara, you know before I was _your_ imaginary friend, I was many children's imaginary friend."

Clara nodded. "Yeah, I got that."

"Before you, there was Amelia Pond…"

"She was the previous companion," Clara pointed the moment she recalled the funny name. "Elias' godmother!"

"Yeah," Liv confirmed. "I was her imaginary friend, and although she gave me up pretty early I still followed her life sometimes. A section of this church kidnapped Amy and Minerva and took the child they engineered between Amy, Minerva and Amy's husband Rory."

"River," Clara also recalled.

"Yes, they took River when she was merely a month old and turned her into a trained psychopath hell bent on killing the Doctor. They took my sister's chance at being a mother for the first time, and they took my Amy's chance to be a mother at all. Amy couldn't get pregnant afterwards."

"That's...awful," Clara blinked, unable to say more at the moment. "And it was...it was this church that did it?"

"Not this one precisely, but...they were part of this church. And Minerva is furious because Tasha never made an effort to capture the head of the organization that caused it all."

"Oh, I'd be mad too," Clara crossed her arms with a huff.

"Minerva is justified," Liv declared and glanced at the Silence coming their way. Clara gasped at the sight of skeletal-like creature in a black suit. "We have nothing to confess so go the other way."

"What the hell is that thing?" Clara asked in horror but made the mistake of looking at her blonde friend.

"It's called the Silence - it was part of the organization that took River," Liv scowled.

"What did?" Clara cluelessly asked.

Liv sighed and looked at her. "We are really not gonna do this thing again."

"Do what - Liv, what are you-" Clara had turned her head to the Silence and gasped again. "Wait, I saw you and then I forgot you. How does that work?"

"It's what they do," Liv explained calmly, facing the Silence again. "They're like a confession priest. The moment you look away you forget about them."

"So why aren't _you_ forgetting about them?"

"The dead don't do confessions," Liv smirked.

~ 0 ~

"What's the signal, where's it coming from?" Minerva demanded from Tasha.

"It's a settlement. Human colony, level 2. A farm, basically."

"Right. Anyone been for a look?" the Doctor curiously wodnered.

"Any one ship lands, the rest will follow, there will be bloodshed. Fortunately we got here first, shielded the planet. We maintain the truce, by blocking all of them."

"Oh, right, truce and peace," Minerva scoffed loudly. "Bit your tongue there, dear?"

Tasha looked the other way before asking, "Doctor, I was counting on you going first considering no one else wants the honor…"

"Of course," the Doctor beamed.

Tasha clapped in delight and walked over to the wall where a confession-like piece stood. She moved up the control panel. "Right, this is my personal teleport. I can put you down just outside the town. Find the source of the message and report back to me in one hour. And on your life, Doctor, you will cause no trouble down there."

"I'll see to it myself," Minerva assured and walked up to the doors, flinging them open. "Clara! Come on in!"

"What are you doing?" Tasha called, clearly not pleased to have another person coming with them.

"I'm bringing in my friend," Minerva practically dragged Clara towards the teleports where the Doctor waited. "Problem?"

Tasha let it go for the sake of time. Instead, she moved to the Doctor and held a hand out, waiting. "I'm not an idiot. Everyone in this church is trained to see straight through holograms."

That did not set well with Clara as she hugged herself. "Ah, great."

"Give now. You are taking no technology of any kind down there," Tasha wiggled her fingers.

"Oh just give the bat her key so we can get going," Minerva told the Doctor. Liv snickered as she went in behind.

Tasha glared at Minerva for that one but remained adamant on the key being handed over. The Doctor groaned and removed his key on a necklace. "The TARDIS doesn't work by remote, you know," he said as he handed it over.

Tasha snatched it from his palm and moved back to the controls. "Remember. I want you back in one hour."

"You don't tell me what to do," Minerva said her last words before they were beamed off.

~ 0 ~

The trio landed roughly on a snow-covered ground, Liv being the only one merely appearing with a graceful stance. Clara immediately felt the icy coldness in the air and shivered, hugging herself.

"Oh, cold, very cold!"

"Don't worry, there's a heat loss filter in your hologram shell," the Doctor called as he helped Minerva who wasn't quite feeling the cold. "It'll kick in, just give it a moment."

Liv had moved towards the hill edge to see a lighted town below. "Hm, so the universe is in terror of this sweet little town? You're all wusses."

Clara noticed something gray poking from the ground and moved towards it. "There's something under the snow, it's…"

"Clara, don't touch anything," warned Liv as if she could feel Clara's curiosity.

"It's stone," Clara had to laugh after barely grazing whatever piece was on the ground. "It's only a statue."

Minerva, the Doctor and Liv all froze in their spots.

"Clara, step away from it!" the Doctor was the first to come back and shout. But it was too late, Clara felt something wrap around her ankle and gasped. A Weeping Angel had taken her ankle tightly into its hand.

"Clara, keep looking at it, don't look away!" Minerva quickly warned while the Doctor rushed over to help her. "Don't even... blink!"

Clara tried her best not to sound childish as she struggled against the grip. "What is it?"

"It's a Weeping Angel under the snow," Liv explained while urgently watching the Doctor trying to help Clara. "Looks like a statue - isn't a statue."

"Can you get your foot out?" the Doctor, exasperated from pulling her, asked Clara.

"Only if I get it out of my shoe!"

Minerva groaned. "You're not wearing a shoe!"

"Good point!"

"OK, just pull, hard!" the Doctor ordered.

"I'm trying!"

"For goodness sake!" Minerva came over and stood on Clara's other side. "Just pull on three!" she latched her hands onto Clara's arm.

"One, two, three!" the Doctor had counted and both he and Minerva yanked Clara as hard as possible.

They freed Clara but fell down a slope instantly behind. Liv winced as they came to a stop. She popped in beside them but realized they weren't alone. The clearing in which they landed on was surrounded by weeping angels.

"They're climbing out of the snow!" Clara exclaimed. "Oh, God!"

"Keep looking at them," ordered the Doctor. "At all of them."

"Why?"

"Quantum-locked life-form - it can only move if it's unobserved," Minerva explained, "So look!"

"What are they doing here?"

"Same as everybody else - must've got past Tasha's shield. Keep looking!"

They each were back to back as the Angels kept getting closer and closer. Clara was beginning to lose it as her vision constantly blurred with the falling snow.

"I can't. I can't see - the snow's in my eyes!"

The Doctor seemed to be fumbling with something near his ear. "I just need to bring the TARDIS down."

"You can't fly it remotely!"

"No, but it can home in on the key!"

"But she took your key!" Liv was now oddly looking at the Doctor.

"She took _one_ of them," Minerva shook her head, heavily annoyed apparently.

The Doctor had taken out a second key from a 'secret pocket'...under his apparent wig. No words, Clara gasped and covered her mouth, merely pointing at him. The TARDIS, being called upon, materialized around the group.

"The old key in the quiff routine. Classic!" the Doctor put down his wig over Handles the Cyberman head and went for the controls. "OK, homing in on the mysterious message. Ooh, yes, I like that - the mysterious message."

Clara was slowly coming out of her shock, as was Liv. Liv slowly began making her way up to Minerva who looked more or less done with the situation - and perhaps her husband.

"Your husband?"

"I was tricked at the wedding," Minerva said quietly.

"Watch it," the Doctor pointed at her, mocking a pout.

"It's not my fault you're actually _this_ stupid," the ginger retaliated, gesturing to his current appearance. "When I send you out of the bedroom to sleep - it's not so that you can shave your head!"

Clara snorted then, giving the Doctor a not-so-much-surprised glance. "You shaved your head because you got kicked out of the bedroom? What kind of protest is that?"

"It wasn't a protest!" the Time Lord huffed.

"No," Minerva sighed, taking the wig off Handles as she went to him. "Of course it wasn't. Please, for the love of God, just put it back on. Your ears are like rocket fins."

"Yeah, well…" the Doctor took his wig back, "...you're…" he struggled to come up with a good response, and ultimately went with, "...ginger."

"Idiot," Minerva promptly declared with a crooked smile.

Clara and Liv had a good laugh in the background afterwards. The Doctor, now with his wig back on, had materialized the TARDIS in the mysterious town. As they walked out they caught sight of the lit trees that resembled a Christmasy atmosphere. The ground was completely covered in snow, contrasting the firey braziers.

"Oh, it's good to be wearing clothes again," Clara commented as they stepped out, indeed dawning her true clothes now as well as the Doctor. "That's so much better, don't you think?"

The Doctor was busy scanning their immediate area with his sonic, trying to decipher where it was they were in. "Now, what do we make of this place? It's two o'clock in the afternoon, must be very short days here. The message is coming from that tower-" he pointed up to a cream colored clock tower up ahead.

"I say we just ask," Minerva clapped her hands together and walked up to a coming couple. "Scuse me!"

"Now, Minerva, remember," the Doctor hurried up to catch up with her, prompting Clara to do the same. "We're a couple from the next town. My name's probably Hank or Rock, something like that-"

"You don't look like a Rock," Minerva eyed him distastefully. "Stick with John, as I will stick with Minerva."

"What are we?" Clara asked, gesturing to herself and Liv who remained visible to the others.

"Friends, what else?" Minerva responded like it were obvious.

"Hello, good to meet you, nice snow," the Doctor said first to the new couple.

"Most pleasant to meet you too," the man shook the Doctor's hand.

"Most pleasant. Most pleasant," added the woman next to him.

And then Doctor's mouth went off. "I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. I stole a time machine and ran away and I've been flouting the principal law of my own people ever since-" he gasped, "That wasn't quite what I was meant to say!"

Minerva looked at him, completely surprised of that outburst. She thought she would get things back on point until her words started tumbling out as well. "My name's Minerva - actually it's Kaeya - and I'm Queen to the planet of the Silver Monsoon. I'm living my dream by running with my husband through time and space with our son who isn't really here-"

Liv had plastered a hand over Minerva's mouth, now giving her the same look Minerva gave the Doctor before.

But then Clara went off next.

"I'm an English teacher from planet Earth, and I've run off with two aliens from space for the hell of it. I also have an imaginary friend who turned out not to be so imaginary because she was actually my friend's dead sister. I guess you can call me her sister's keeper-"

"Oh my God!" Liv slapped her other hand on Clara, making the human wince at the accidental pressure.

The stranger woman chuckled in fair amusement at the three out bursts. "I think, perhaps, you should stop talking till you get used to it."

"Used to what?" Liv glanced at the Doctor, warning him that just because she didn't have a third hand it wouldn't stop her from shutting him up next. "What's going on?"

"I'm wearing a wig!" he had only uncovered his mouth for so bit.

"I get it," Liv suddenly said, lowering her hands from her adoptive sisters. "This is like a truth field, no?" the couple nodded their heads. "I saw that once, you know. But it can't affect me - the dead can lie as they please."

"You're not dead," Minerva frowned. "You're technically partially alive thanks to Clara's alive genes-"

"And her we go again," Liv covered Minerva's mouth again.

"No-one can lie in this town. Especially this close to the tower," the man pointed up to the clock tower for emphasis before he and the woman walked off.

"That's stupid," Liv muttered. "Not to mention inconvenient." She glanced back to the couple, daring one of her three friends to talk agian. "What's this place called again?"

"It's Christmas," the man called back.

"No, the Doctor said it's July-"

"No, the town. The town is Christmas," the woman interjected to clarify, "That's what it's called."

"Oh, isn't that sweet," Minerva smiled and looked at the Doctor. "I wanna name something after Christmas."

"You _are_ queen," the Doctor said, taking her hand to lead her and the other two for the clock tower, which in reality was a church.

The church seemed almost abandoned as they made their way further inside. It was barely furnitured with cracked walls. There were no lights, but something drew them in from the basement - a peculiar source of light. The Doctor was the first to see it, and immediately went up to it. Minerva, on the other hand, gasped and stayed in place for a moment.

Liv, though knowing it was almost impossible, thought she felt goosebumps run up her body. "Amelia," she whispered.

Clara looked from one to the other, taking notice of their distinct reactions yet clearly of the same reason. "What's...going on? That's just a crack on the wall," she looked at the strange crack on the wall the Doctor stood in front of. She didn't understand why it was lit up like there was a bright sun on the other side.

"It feels like centuries ago," Minerva finally regained some of herself to begin.

"You're telling me," Liv left Clara to see the crack closer. "Little Amelia, always praying to Santa because there was a noise coming from that crack...if only she had known…"

"I knew. I always knew it wasn't over," the Doctor breathed in, tentatively reaching to touch the crack.

"Well, what is it?" Clara crossed her arms.

"A split in the skin of reality," Minerva explained. "A tiny sliver of the 26th of June, 2010. The day the universe blew up."

Clara stiffened, looking to the side. "Kinda missed that!"

"I rebooted it, put it all back together," the Doctor said calmly, despite his attention barely remembering there was anyone else in the room. "It was my TARDIS that blew it up in the first place. I felt a degree of responsibility. But the scar tissue remains. A structural weakness in the whole universe. Whoa!" He had tried finally touching it but felt something overhwelmingly strong from the other side. "And someone's trying to get through it, from outside our universe, from somewhere else." He pressed an ear beside it, as if to listen. "Of course, of course. It makes sense."

"It does?"

"Yes. If you tried to break through a wall, you'd choose the weakest spot. To break into this universe, you'd choose this crack, because…no." He also stiffened and turned back to Handles which he'd brought from the TARDIS. "If you were trying to break back into this universe. You said Gallifrey. Why did you say Gallifrey?"

"Analysis of message composition indicates Gallifreyan origin, according to TARDIS data banks."

"You said Gallifrey was gone," Clara almost accused.

"We never said that," Minerva pointed at her. "It was in another universe."

"The message is coming through here. The truth field is too, at a guess," the Doctor was now openly thinking about it all. "If it's the Time Lords... If it's the Time Lords…" he had gone back to the wall, pressed his hands over it to listen carefully. Upon hearing a tone resonating, he glanced back at the women, taking an item from his pocket. "Seal of the High Council of Gallifrey, nicked it off the Master in the Death Zone." He pressed it to Handles' head and instructed, "There is an algorithm imprinted in the atomic structure. Use it to decode the message."

"Message decoding. Message analysis proceeding. Information available. The message is a request for information."

"It's a question. Why can't you just say it's a question?!"

"It is being projected through all of time and space on a repeating cycle.'

By this time, the Doctor, as had Minerva, had already began fitting in the puzzles. "The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight…" Minerva closed her eyes, "...If I had a frikin dollar for each time I heard it…"

But Handles had cut her off, "Warning – translation will be available to all life-forms in range. Translation follows. Doctor who... Doctor who... Doctor who... Doctor who... Doctor who…"

"So...so it's...it's them?" Clara was barely able to keep her mouth from falling to the ground. "It's...actually them? The - the Time Lords?"

"And that question…" Liv glanced at the Time Lord in question.

"It's a question only I could answer. A truth field to make sure I'm not lying. If I give my name, they'll know they've found the right place... and that it's safe to come through."

"The Time Lords? OK, so what then?" Clara walked up to him. "If you answer the question, and they come back, what happens?"

The Doctor looked at Clara for a minute, deciding so quick that she couldn't stay. He had a high suspicion of which planet this was, and if he could he would send Minerva away as well.

' _Don't you even dare,'_ came the warning voice of his wife in his mind. She had a fierce look of determination to make her stay.

' _Do you realize what this place is going to be? You cannot be here, Minerva. This is my fight - those are **my** enemies up in the sky, not yours.' _ The Doctor's face, however, met hers with a pleading demeanor.

' _Through thick and thin, I stand by you. Send Clara back, make up anything, but you're not getting rid of me.'_ Minerva winked at him.

"Doctor?" Clara called him out from the telepathic conversation. "Well?"

The Doctor straightened up, and took out a silver cylinder which he then handed over to Clara. "You need to take this to the TARDIS and put it in the charger slot for the sonic."

"Why?" she took the cylinder and turned it over.

"Hell. All hell, that's what happens if the Time Lords come back. There's half a universe up there already, waiting to open fire. Now, please, go to the TARDIS, and just do as I say!"

Clara nodded and hurried to take the cylinder to the TARDIS. Liv remained there, eyes flickering from one alien to the next before vanishing.

Outside, they could hear Tasha calling out to the Doctor. They knew what awaited, and neither alien would back down. Minerva walked up to the Doctor and took his hand.

"I'm here," she whispered. She leaned on her toes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. The Doctor leaned into her touch, thanking his lucky stars to have met her. She wasn't leaving him, she was right there with him. And that's probably where she was going to stay as long as she had a say in it.

The two made it up the tower to where Tasha's face was projected into the dark sky.

"Mother Superious, there is only one thing I need from you - this planet... what's it called?" the Doctor called out, his hand gripping Minerva's so tightly but she didn't word anything.

"Trenzalore," Tasha answered.

There was a tension filled silence in the next minutes. Both sides knew what it meant - they all knew the stories.

"They're asking for help," Minerva was the first to speak out. "It's inhumane-"

Tasha was not there to play hero. She was there to keep violence out. "And if you give help, either of you, war will be the consequence. I will not that let that happen at any cost. Speak your name, Doctor, and this world will burn!"

The Doctor took that as a little challenge. "No, this planet is protected."

Tasha saw no more and faded away, because apparently it had all been set anyways. The Doctor then turned to Minerva, his eyes filled to the brim with guilt and despondency. Her face mirrored his, because they both knew what it meant to stay.

The Doctor took both her hands in his."Elias…"

Minerva stifled a sob, her head hanging to hide some of her loose tears. The idea of never seeing her son crushed her heart in a new way, and a far more painful one.

Neither had seen Liv appear across the tower. She had an incredulous expression as she stared at them. "You left her," her voice startled them but they didn't let go of each other. "You sent Clara away."

"We had to," the Doctor wrapped an arm around Minerva's waist to bring her closer. "This place will be a site for terror."

"And Elias? Will you leave your son who still thinks his Mommy and Daddy are coming back for him?"

"You know the TARDIS is programmed to go down the family after me," the Doctor sighed, resting a cheek over Minerva's head, "And since it looks like I won't be needing it anymore, it'll go down - pass Minerva - to Elias. In it he has everything he'll ever need."

"If the TARDIS just randomly appears on the Monsoon everyone will assume the worst," Liv tried to argue but she knew this had already been decided between the two aliens.

"You tell them not to come looking," Minerva ordered, though her voice was shaky with looking sobs the command was still authoritative. "I never want to see my son on this planet-"

Liv's eyes widened with utter shock. "Minerva!"

"He deserves to see stars not _corpses_ ," Minerva snapped, pursing her lips as new years fought their way down her cheeks. "I want him to grow up, take the throne, and see the world. Bring Clara to him sometimes, so they can keep each other company."

"Minerva-" Liv scowled at the foul idea, but the ginger Queen was not finished.

"And as for you, Liv Oswald, go to Clara, and live happy."

"This isn't over, Minerva," Liv shook her head, showing no signs of anger against either alien. She vanished into thin air and allowed them to begin, what would be a long, stay in the town of Christmas.

She would not not return until Clara did.

~ 0 ~

In the years that followed, the Doctor and Minerva did their best to protect the little town without sunshine. With no TARDIS, they had to come up with an actual home for their selves, and what better place than the Church Tower building? It was a good idea to keep an eye on the crack that every now and then made noises. To add on their help, the Papal Mainframe kept the barrier up and tried aiding the two aliens in their endeavor.

There were various attacks from different species they had to deal with, but each one went down just like the last. Even when things got...kind of weird...they always went down.

"Honestly, _wood_?" Minerva was more amused by the wooden Cyberman that had somehow penetrated through the barrier of the planet.

Of course her curiosity died when it began shooting fire from its arm, burning several trees and causing quite the mayhem among the townspeople. With a quick slash of her ice she cut off its arms, rendering it defenseless.

"Everybody calm down!" she called to the townspeople who were slowly beginning to stop running around in terror. She walked down the small steps she stood on and walked up to the almost dead Cybermen. "I have to stay, it's peculiar the way you things are starting to come up with just to get into this planet."

All the Cyberman said in response was, "The Doctor is required."

"Tough," Minerva flatly said before using more of her ice to ram it right through its central processor within the chest.

Minutes later, she was coming back to the church building where her Doctor awaited. "I think this could be used as a cane, dear," she said, coming in holding a piece of wood in hand.

"I don't need a cane," the Time Lord huffed and shifted on his desk chair, his hands fervishly working on a little toy.

"There is nothing wrong with it," Minerva walked up behind his chair, leaning down to kiss his cheek.

"We both know that's a blatant lie," the Doctor gruffed, putting down the toy he was working on.

Minerva would have usually smiled but for so many centuries she had not been able to do so again. She leaned down to face him, taking in his aged appearance. Because it was his last incarnation, time would now be affecting him physically. His once brunette hair had begun to gray, and his skin was now bearing several wrinkles. There was some sort of problem with his leg that happened after one attack, and it never managed to heal again. For Minerva it didn't matter - this wasn't the first time she was in front of an older Doctor. He was her Martian, and she hoped she would still be his Clever Girl. They were all they had now, nothing more.

Liv had kept her word in never coming back to see them. It hurt Minerva that her sister was nowhere to be seen, but she knew it was for the best. At least there was someone watching over her son - oh, her _son_.

Because no matter how much time passed, the Doctor and Minerva never got over their son. They missed Elias so much, and all they had to remember him by were memories. Minerva wished on every star that she could have kept just a single picture of him. Of course she had drew him several times, going as far as picturing one of how Elias would look as a young man. They had no idea how much time had passed on the Silver Monsoon so for all they knew Elias was a proper man now. However no matter how many drawings Minerva did of him, it didn't compare to an actual photograph of Elias. One single picture of Elias would have kept her sane and more determined to keep Christmas safe.

The Doctor, while aged, kept himself more put together than Minerva. He could feel her pain through their telepathic connection, and he could _see_ it. The once cheerful and sassy Minerva was replaced by a reserved, automatic woman. The only times she showed her true colors were during their moments alone, and sometimes with the town children.

"This is lovely, Barnable," Minerva mused as she and the Doctor took a look at one of the dozens pictures drawn for them by the children.

"Is that...supposed to be the puppet?" the Doctor took the paper from her and leaned closer. With his age, he most certainly needed Amelia Pond's glasses.

"Of course," the young boy, Barnable, nodded his head excitedly. "And then there's Minerva," he moved to the Doctor's side and tapped the edge of the paper where a woman in white was drawn.

"Why's she in a bride's dress?" the Doctor narrowed his eyes and looked at Minerva, the playfulness he carried never diminishing. "Who are you marrying?"

"An idiot, apparently," Minerva replied, for a brief moment showing her smiles.

"Oh ha, ha," the Doctor swayed his head while Barnable giggled.

Later, the Doctor resolved it was time to show the children his 'very cool' Giraffe dance as the celebration for their latest victory happened. Minerva stayed put on the side because she wanted to be nowhere near that spectacle. It was still just too embarrassing. She held onto Barnable's drawing, and intently watched the procession.

"You've got to _be_ the drunk giraffe, you've got to _commit_!" the Doctor led a line of children. "Don't be cool, guys. Cool is not cool."

"Cool is not cool!" the children chanted behind him.

"And what's the dance we're doing?"

"The drunk giraffe!"

"The drunk giraffe! Yeah, it is! Merry Christmas. Give me a hug, bring it in."

The children gathered around to give the Doctor a great big hug all at once. Minerva's breath hitched in her throat at the sight of the children. By the time the Doctor noticed, Minerva's eyes were filled with tears. She whirled around pretty fast and went back up the stairs into the church building.

A couple minutes later, the Doctor was also in the building. He used the wall to help him walk into their main room - still refusing to use the wooden cane she had fashioned for him now. Minerva was sniffling as she pinned Barnable's drawing on the wall, a wall that was already covered in so many child drawings but none of them from their actual son.

"Minerva…" his aged voice called for her, but had her louder sniffles in response. "Minerva?"

Minerva began hyperventilating with her tears until she couldn't anymore. "I miss him, Martian! I miss my baby!" She turned around, and to her relief, the Doctor was already by her side where she could retreat to.

It wasn't the frist time she broke down for their son. And just like the times before, the Doctor felt compeltely guilty because he could not do anything to help her. He couldn't bring Elias to her, and she couldn't leave.

"Do you think he's grown up by now?" Minerva rested her head over his shoulder. "Taken the throne? Or travelling?"

"Perhaps," the Doctor mused on their son's whereabouts. It was impossible to tell how old their son was now. They could only imagine.

"It hurts, Doctor, it just hurts," Minerva burst into a new round of sobs and clung to him as her last anchor. Because, truly, he was.

And then, they heard it. Like their wish had been granted, they heard the TARDIS wheezing outside. With fresh tears staining her face, Minerva pulled away and looked at the Doctor, both stunned.

"Is it…?" she whispered.

"Impossible…" the Doctor's eyes were flickering side to side as he wondered who was now controlling his TARDIS. For a moment, they dared to believe it was their aged son.

~ 0 ~

Outside, townspeople were already staring at the slowly appearing TARDIS. Barnable was the closest to the church building, so when the two aliens came out, he was the first to ask, "What's that?"

"Our ship," Minerva was practically holding her breath as she waited to see who was piloting the blue box. Could it really be their son?

"I told you it wasn't over," a voice she hadn't heard for so many years said behind.

Minerva, as well as the Doctor, glanced back to see Liv standing there, not a day aged. Without saying a word, Liv pointed back to the TARDIS. To their surprise, Clara Oswald was clinging to the outside doors, frozen in place.

Minerva gasped, both surprised and yet, shamefully, so disappointed. She ran towards the blue box, the Doctor wobbling after. "What do you think you're doing there?" Minerva demanded, and it was a bit of a trouble figuring out whether or not she was angry.

"I...was in space," Clara answered slowly, looking robotic as she turned around. Her clothes were covered in white 'snow' and her face looked stuck in a surprised expression.

Minerva was at a loss of words for the human, and suddenly she gasped. "My baby!" she pushed Clara aside and dashed inside the TARDIS.

Clara nearly tumbled down but Liv was there to help her keep her balance. "I was in space, Liv," Clara was still trying to get over the idea.

"Yeah, I kinda got that when you didn't appear at home nor the TARDIS in the Monsoon," Liv shook her head.

"You didn't let the TARDIS get to where it was supposed to," the Doctor, irritatedly, scolded her. "She was supposed to get to the Monsoon and be with Elias."

"Sorry?" Clara looked around, barely getting herself together. And then it finally clicked. "Wiat a minute - you tricked me!" she pointed at the Doctor. "You and Minerva, you tricked me!

"We saved you," the Doctor corrected grimly.

"You didn't even say goodbye," Clara sadly said.

"I'm furious with you!" the Doctor pointed, almost sounding like he was warning her.

Clara huffed. "Well, I am not even talking to you!"

And then, a second passed, and they laughed and hugged. Clara was the first to pull away, and she glanced back at the TARDIS. Minerva failed to come back out.

The Doctor, wanting to show Clara the best part of the town, brought her up to the bell tower. As he sat down in one of the chairs, Clara peered down to where the blue box was still at.

"Is...Minerva alright?" she knew it was a stupid question but she honestly didn't know what else to ask about the ginger.

"She hasn't seen her son in 300 years, it's not been good for a very long time," the Doctor sighed. It was the reason why he wasn't pushing Minerva to come back out from the TARDIS. The box contained all the memories in flesh of Elias, and he knew she was going through the pictures she so wanted to see for so long.

"It's been that long?" Clara gaped at him.

"Oh yes, so many years, can't you tell?" the Doctor gestured to himself and his aged appearance. "No, I feel...like my Clever Girl has entered a depression state because of me."

"Don't say that," Clara took a seat beside him.

"Clara, I'm used to seeing my wife happy and sassy, and bubbly, and everything else that she is. But over the 300 years that's passed, I'm erasing everything she is. And the worst part is, I can't take her away. Right there, all this-" the Doctor gestured to the open area, "-it's a standoff. They can't attack in case I unleash the Time Lords. And I can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords."

Clara knew the way he was talking was a way that she knew Minerva would not like. Because both knew what it was - a goodbye.

"What do you want me to do?" Clara whispered. The Doctor warmly smiled, thanking her for understanding so quick.

And at that moment, Minerva appeared, holding dozens of pictures in her hands. Her face was distant, but she immediately went for the Doctor.

"Look what I found," she sweetly smiled at him as she began to show him one by one the pictures of their son. "I forgot he had a freckle right there," she pointed at Elias' cheek.

The Doctor felt his heart ping as he saw his son again, even if they were just pictures. "My little Martian copy…"

Minerva sniffed. "He was so beautiful."

Liv appeared beside Clara, setting a hand on Clara's shoulder. The two exchanged sad looks on behalf of their alien friends.

"He hasn't aged," Liv informed them then, easily catching their attention. "He's still the toddler you left on the Monsoon."

"Ooh," Minerva wiped away some of her tears.

"I wish you would have never sent me away," Clara suddenly said, shaking her head at them. "Because I would have never let you get stuck here, without Elias."

"Ha! Everyone gets stuck somewhere, eventually, Clara. Everything ends," the Doctor shrugged, still looking through the pictures Minerva brought.

"Except for you two," Clara said instantly.

"Have you been paying attention? I'm an old man now," the Doctor scoffed. "Minerva, though, she's beautiful as always."

"Stop," Minerva looked at him. "You were always an old man, remember? Don't bring in my youth into this. I'm just as old as you are."

"But you know what I meant," the Doctor touched her face, watching the grimness take over her features again. "It's time, Minerva. 13 versions, 13 Doctors. Time's up."

"But that's not right," Clara interjected, failing to make the calculations yet. "You're number 11."

"Are we forgetting Captain Grumpy, eh?" challenged the Doctor. "I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration."

"OK, so you're number 12," Clara amended.

"Number ten once regenerated and kept the same face - I had vanity issues at the time. 12 regenerations, Clara. I can't ever do it again. This is where I end up." The Doctor grabbed Minerva's hand. "This face - this version of me. We saw this planet in the future, remember? All those graves... one of them mine."

Clara finally grasped the situation, and her tears were soon to arrive. "Change the future."

"I can't."

"Use the TARDIS!"

"Ha! You think I'm just going to fly away, abandon everyone?"

"Of course not. But you've been protecting this town for over 300 years. Do you not think it's anybody else's go yet?"

"There is no-one else to protect it."

"It won't be you forever," Liv quietly pointed out. "It'll end the same way, whatever you do."

"Not true," Minerva then spoke up. "Because I'm gonna stay. I have plenty regenerations left, and since the Doctor won't let me give him some, I'm gonna put them to use somewhere else."

"Stop," Clara rose up from her chair, narrowing her eyes at them both. "Ever since I have met you, all you have done is put someone else before you - either of you. So, just for once, take your blue box, get your son, and _go_."

"You know very well we can't do that," the Doctor looked at her meaningfully.

"Yes, you can," Clara whispered, her eyes eyes glistening again.

Thunder in the sky interrupted them. And as Tasha's face appeared, Clara watched how even the hatred Minerva displayed the first time for the woman had disappeared. There was too much sadness to think of hatred.

Tasha invited them up to the ship, and not wanting to be left behind, Clara accompanied them.

"She doesn't age," Clara remarked as soon as she saw the still youthful Tasha waiting to greet them down the aisle.

"No, she's against ageing," the Doctor explained.

"Well, who wouldn't be," remarked Liv as they were taken into a conference room. She still remained only visible to the group.

Tasha slid the Doctor a brown box, which the Doctor immediately opened up. "Where are the pink ones?" he demanded shortly afterwards.

"E-numbers. You're hyper enough as it is," she rolled her eyes.

"Wait a minute, you're in the middle of a siege and you actually sit down to have little chats?"

"They're not chats exactly," Minerva mumbled, her hand still clinging to a single picture of Elias.

"But she's right. This situation cannot continue," Tasha said.

"It can't end either," the Doctor responded back.

"Why did you ever come to Trenzalore?" Tasha suddenly questioned, instigating Minerva to pay a little more attention. Tasha never dwelled on the past, one of the reasons why she still disliked the woman. She refused to take part of the blame for her crazy recruiters forming the Silence order. It was in the past, and the past should be forgotten Minerva heard over and over from Tasha.

"Well, I did come to Trenzalore, and nothing can change that now," the Doctor shrugged. "Didn't stop you trying, though, did it?"

Tasha sighed, "Oh, for heaven's sake - I already told you it was not me."

"But you never did anything," Minerva snapped, for a minute sounding like herself. "You always say the Kovarian Chapter broke away well guess what, Tasha Lem, _you_ are responsible for those people because they were _your_ people. They traveled back along the Doctor's timeline and tried to prevent us from ever reaching Trenzalore because you _let_ them. They blew up the TARDIS because _you let them_! And they created the cracks in the universe that are now - ironically - the host place where the Time Lords are now calling. Why? Because you let them."

Clara took back all the thoughts of Minerva not being enough to still hate Tasha. But then again, this was part of the reason Minerva lost her first child, and that was something hard to just 'let go'.

"They engineered a psychopath that was my daughter, because you let them," Minerva finished with a shaky voice. "So don't you sit there and act like it was not your fault. You're a leader, and you're responsible for those you lead."

Tasha tapped her fingers along the table, clearly taken aback by Minerva's words. But then, very quietly, she said, "I am not interested in changing history-"

"Of course you're not," Minerva interjected sourly.

"I want to change the future," Tasha looked at the Doctor. " The Daleks send for reinforcements daily, they are massing for war. Three days ago, they attacked the Mainframe itself."

"They attacked here?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"How did you stop them?" Clara asked, curiously.

"Stop them?" Tasha scoffed. "It was slaughter."

"Why didn't you call me? I could have helped."

"I tried. I died in this room, screaming your name."

"Oh, hell no," Minerva quickly backed up from her chair.

"Oh…" Tasha realized, "...I died. It's funny the things that slip your mind." She gasped and dropped on the table.

"Uuh, might I suggest a quick departure?" Liv was side to side with Clara, all of them staring in horror as Tasha raised her self up, and revealed a growing Dalek eyestalk protruding her forehead.

"I know damn right Tasha Lem isn't going to let this take her down," Minerva huffed, looking actually angry by this.

A Dalek burst in from the doors. "Step away from the Dalek unit, Doctor!"

"You shouldn't even know who I am," the Doctor said, wobbling closer to Minerva.

"Information concerning the Doctor was harvested from the cadaver of Tasha Lem."

"Oh, great," Minerva rolled her eyes. "But I bet she never told you how to break the Trenzalore force field, though. She'd have died first."

"Several times," confirmed the Dalek.

"Well, you'd better kill me, then, go on," the Doctor successfully moved in front of Minerva, "But before you do…" he whipped out of his sonic and translated the ongoing message of 'Doctor who' for them all. "I'm a tough old bird. I'll be ages dying. Way enough time to answer a question. And, oh dear, what happens then, boys?"

"You will die in silence, Doctor, or your associate will die."

"Over my already-dead-body," Liv appeared and grabbed Tasha by the arm. "Can't kill a woman who's already dead, hmm?"

"Liv," Minerva's voice shook with fear, but Liv found it unreasonable and scoffed.

"Go ahead, shoot me," Liv taunted Tasha. "Nobody cares, because I'm dead. And even if you did get Clara, or Minerva, you wouldn't make it. But you would still try, huh? Because you're just that stupid. Always such a wanky leader, a _weak_ one..." She saw the slight twitch in Tasha's face and smirked. "Talk about spineless, am I right? You and this stupid church weren't good for anything!"

And then suddenly, Tasha sprung to life and attempted slapping Liv. The blonde, being too quick, vanished and reappeared beside the Doctor.

"And you're welcome," Liv said proudly.

"Right, get us back to the TARDIS," the Doctor quickly clapped his hands. "Can you do that?"

Tasha nodded and hurried back to the transporters. "Yep, but quickly, the Dalek inside me is waking."

"Well then fight it, goddamit," Minerva snapped.

"I can't-"

"I swear to God if I hear those words come out of your mouth one more time - I'll slap you. I don't like you but I know where a good fight can be put up and that is in _you_ Tasha Lem."

"The force field will hold for a while, but it will decay, and there are breaches already."

"Then this isn't a siege any more, it's a _war_ ," the Doctor ushered Minerva and Clara into a transporter. "It's all up to you now. Fight the Daleks, inside and out. You can do it, I know you can."

"Oh, I see. You've got your TARDIS back, haven't you? Time to fly away," mocked Tasha.

"Uh-uh-" Minerva poked her head out from the second transport, "I know you're not playing that card on my husband."

"None of this was for you, you fatuous egotist," Tasha told the Doctor, provoking Minerva to nearly lunge out for her if it wasn't for Clara yanking her - with Liv's help - back inside the teleporter. "It was for the peace. Fly away, Doctor!"

~ 0 ~

"I can't believe you're making me do this," Clara mumbled as she and the Doctor walked up from underneath the console. Clara now held her finished turkey pan.

"It's for the best, I can't have her there," the Doctor put a finger to his lips once they reached the normal floor of the TARDIS console.

"I have more pictures," Minerva emereged from the corridor with Liv, the former indeed carrying far more pictures.

"Clever Girl," the Doctor walked up to her, cupping her face.

"I can do it, with these now," Minerva breathed in and out in a shaky manner.

"...okay," the Doctor kissed her forehead. "How about I take care of them in the meantime you go help Clara take that food for her house."

"Oh," Minerva glanced around him to see the human pretending to be paying attention to the turkey. "Are we, um...you know…" she leaned closer to the Doctor and whispered, "...leaving her?"

"...yes," the Doctor answered. "It's war now, Minerva, and we can't have her there."

"Yes," Minerva agreed, clearing her throat. "Alright then. Give me a mo."

The Doctor nodded and turned as she went off with Clara, unable to help the tears fill his eyes. Because he was sure, one way or another, this would be the last time he saw his wife alive. Hopefully.

"I still don't understand the point of turkey on Christmas," Minerva managed a little smile as she helped Clara trudge the hot pan towards the new Powell Estate.

"Mhm," Clara couldn't find the right words for the ginger, because she knew what was about to happen. Even Liv had yet to say a word.

"You know, a long time ago - for me anyways and the Doctor - we had snicker doodles. But Christmas doesn't have any snickerdoodle flour so...I haven't had snicker doodles in 300 years," Minerva sighed glumly. "Maybe I can sneak some off really quick and-" she abruptly stopped, and Clara shut her eyes, knowin it was time.

"Minerva?" Liv dared to speak.

Minerva raised a hand to motion for silence. "He's cut off telepathic connection between us," she whispered. It was easy to see that her breathing was picking up again, point to the hyperventilation stage.

"Minerva-" Liv was barely able to get the word out before the ginger had dashed back for the TARDIS, making Clara drop the turkey in the process.

Everything spun in Minerva's head as she raced to catch the blue box before it disappeared. "DOCTOR!" she screamed, thinking that perhaps with a good scold he would stop the nonsense and come back. But the closer she got there she saw the box was already disappearing. "DOCTOR! DON'T!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, but it didn't matter because the moment she returned, the box faded away. Her breath caught in her throat, her hands unable to find a place to land on.

He left her.

He tricked her...and he left her.

Suddenly everything from their first visit to Trenzalore rushed back into mind. Her corpse, her body, there had been nothing there except the TARDIS and the Doctor.

She gasped even louder, her hands now flinging to her mouth. The connections were being made and it was not pretty. She didn't think she had ever felt so terrified than at this moment. The Doctor was going to die, and much worse, he was going to die on his own.

"Minerva…" Clara's quiet little call did nothing for the ginger Queen.

Minerva dropped to her knees and broke into sobs.

~ 0 ~

Back on Christmas, the Doctor stood across the TARDIS, with Barnable, and only watched the blue box.

"If you're not leaving, why did you bring it back?" Barnable wondered.

"It's a reminder. Besides, I might leave tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that."

"...and will Minerva come back?"

"With luck, no," the Doctor swallowed hard and turned away. He was sure that if he sent the TARDIS back to the Monsoon, Minerva would get inside and come right back. He could not have that.

~ 0 ~

Ten minutes had felt, so far, like an eternity for Minerva. She refused to get up from where she had originally fallen after the TARDIS disappeared. Clara couldn't find it in her to just leave Minerva there. Liv tried cheering the ginger up by trying to persuade her into opening a Christmas cracker she'd taken from Clara's family, but Minerva wouldn't budge. She snatched the cracker from Liv and told her to shut up and leave her alone.

"What do we do?" whispered Clara after about thirty minutes of just standing there behind Minerva.

"I dunno," Liv shrugged. "I can't exactly call for anyone from our human family can't I?"

"Good point," Clara acknowledged. "But what about the others? What was her name? Martha Jones? Or Donna Noble? Can't we call one of them?"

"Yeah, and then what? Do we tell them Minerva's having a break down because her husband is about to die in war?" Clara's face basically told Liv not to say that. "C'mon Clara, someone has to be realistic. War broke out, and the Doctor has no more regenerations. I respect what he tried doing for my sister, but his time is up and she deserves to be there to-"

"Don't say it," Clara warned, shaking her head. The very idea of the Doctor actually _actually_...dying, filled her eyes to the brim of tears.

Liv sighed, the words of course hurting her as well but it was not the same anymore. Being dead, actually dead, was still something Liv sometimes found herself thinking about. Because, as she was once told, there was a time to be alive and then there was a time to die. Even with this new half life granted to her, Liv pondered on what laid ahead for her when her connection to Clara expired- in other words, what would happen when Clara herself passed away? Liv was prepared to find out.

"Minerva deserves to be there to send him off peacefully. They both do."

And, as if just was hearing her words, they heard the TARDIS again. Minerva looked up, revealing a face tarnished in tears. As the blue box slowly came back, she rose to her feet and inched closer. She wasn't allowing herself relief - the Doctor still had not reactivated his side of their telepathic connection.

Finding Tasha Lem inside came as no surprise to Minerva. The air was turning even gloomier as Minerva stepped down for the console. Her lips pursed together, even Tasha was in no haughty mood.

There was no need to say it, one look from Tasha said it all.

Minerva stifled a new sob, one hand going to her mouth. " _No_..."

Arriving back on Christmas, now as mostly destroyed, was quite the sight to see...for Clara and Liv. Minerva had dashed out and went straight for the church building without so much of a glance to the environment.

Once reaching there, she slowed her pace. She passed the familiar drawings on their wall, and noticed there had not been any new ones placed. The rasping noise drew her in to find a far elderly Doctor sitting quietly, whittling a wooden toy.

"Barnable?" his terrifically old voice made her gasp.

"Don't tell me you don't remember my scent," Minerva whispered. The Doctor dropped the toy and turned on his chair to look at her. "You said I smelled like vanilla," she swallowed hard.

At first, Minerva wondered if all the stares she got was because he couldn't recognize her anymore. He took off his glasses, and leaned forwards.

"Were you always so beautiful?" He ended up asking.

Minerva nearly broke into another sob before running over to him. She dropped to her knees in order to hug him. With his little strength, he did the same.

"I missed you, my Clever Girl," he mumbled, kissing her hair.

Minerva pulled away, meeting his tired, old eyes with her teary ones. "What did I say about leaving me behind? I don't care what happens, where we end up, I _need_ to be with you."

"You needed to be with Elias," he stroked her hair, relishing in what he remembered it being soft.

"And I needed to be with you as well," Minerva sniffed. "You think it's just so easy forgetting that I love you? That I need to be with you? You got another thing coming Martian."

"Martian," he repeated with a chuckle. "I haven't heard that in a while."

Minerva sadly smiled, reaching to touch his face. "You better not have cos I will kill the bimbo," she said so sweetly-dark that it just made him laugh again. She took in a breath and reached for the cracker she had taken from Liv before leaving the TARDIS. "I brought something, maybe you wanna try it?"

"A cracker? But you hated those," the Doctor made a scowl.

"Not with you I didn't. Besides, it's Christmas."

"It's Christmas. That Monsoon project you worked on...is it finished now?"

"Yes, my grandfather is supposed to be putting in the final things for Clara to see."

"Take pictures," the Doctor instructed. "Lots and lots of pictures…" he made a gesture to the table beside him. Minerva leaned to the side where she could see the pictures of Elias she had taken from the TARDIS. They were old now, and a bit yellow on the edges.

"Oh Doctor," Minerva sniffed again. She picked up the cracker and held it between them. However, the Doctor couldn't hold onto his side. "It's alright, darling," she placed her hand over his.

They pull the cracker open and Minerva took out the little...poem?

"Ah! Is there a joke? Huh?" the Doctor awaited anxiously.

"Um, not exactly," Minerva unrolled it right. "God, I never understand these things. It's an extract from "Thoughts On A Clock" by Eric Ritchie Jr."

"it a knock-knock one? Those are best."

She could tell that his mind wasn't all the way there anymore. He was far more distracted now. She inched closer to him, resting her head on his leg as she read it.

 _"And now it's time for one last bow,_

 _Like all your other selves,_

 _Eleven's hour is over now,_

 _The clock is striking twelve's."_

"...I don't get it," the Doctor said after a moment, sounding grumpy too.

Minerva giggled and raised her head to see him. However, something else caught her sight. She got up and moved for the table with the pictures. "You're using the cane I made for you," she picked up the wooden came she had once made for him.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm a bit old," the Doctor gestured to himself.

"I never noticed," Minerva softly responded with nothing but the truth. "You are always 'my Martian'."

"Minerva!" Clara ran inside, Liv merely popping in, "There's this big Dalek ship outside and I don't think anyone can stop it and they keep asking for the Docto-" she gasped when she finally saw the Doctor of now.

"Oh, all right, Barnable," the Doctor got up from the chair with Minerva's help and his cane.

"No, Doctor, that's Clara," Minerva corrected gently.

"...are you sure?"

"Uh, yeah, pretty much."

"Has she always been so _round_?"

"Standing right here," Clara waved a hand. She rolled her eyes and sprinted up to the pair, hugging the Doctor.

"Nice to see you again, Clara," the Doctor smiled but then looked at her again as if he was changing his mind on who she was.

"Minerva," Liv called again. "The ship…"

Minerva nodded with understanding. She turned to the Doctor. "Martian, why don't you let me go out there and-"

"No," the Doctor may have been a little lost but he definitely understood what that meant.

"But you're-"

"This is it," the Doctor cupped one side of her face. Tears were quick and as she tried shaking her head defiantly while he went on as best he could. "It is, and I want you to be safe. This place...it's going to die and I don't want you here."

"Then let me give you some of my regenerations-"

"I told you long ago not to even try it," the Doctor warned her in case she was attempting to trick him again.

"There can be something we can do-"

"Not this time, Clever Girl." The Doctor leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Thank you, Minerva, for everything. You were, and always will be, my love."

Minerva was to the brim of breaking into a fresh sob, and sputtered a mixtures of 'no' and 'Don't leave' but then she latched onto his arm. "Don't! Y-you can't- you shouldn't! We have to change it cos, cos I...I saw him!" She exclaimed, remembering something very, _very_ important. "I saw him, you, I saw him! And he was you, Doctor! He was and I - I forgot about him but-"

The Doctor had discarded her rambles for nonsense pleads. He shushed her with a finger over her lips. "Go home, Minerva. Where our son is, is your home now."

Minerva mumbled more no's as he walked off to face the Daleks. Clara and Liv glanced at each other, neither sure of what would come next. Minerva lowered her hands and turned around, looking like she had no words to say. Her eyes flickered from one side to the other, and then they caught site of the wall crack. They narrowed on site, and a fierce look took over her features.

"Minerva-" Liv reached out to the ginger but she walked on towards the wall.

Minerva bent down beside it, and dangerously began what she knew was her last hope. "You listen to me, and you listen well. You don't like me and that's fine - I don't care. You want the Doctor's help you gotta start by helping him for once in your goddamn lives. Help him change the future...or so help me I will find you myself and destroy you. You had the name all this time, and you failed to grasp it. His name has, and always will be, the Doctor. So help him, dammit."

With those words, she left the crack. Neither Clara nor Liv dared to say a word.

She was midway out the room when a loud crack noise made her turn around. Seeing nothing new, she continued to walk out. Clara made to follow but Liv vanished to reappear somewhere else.

Up on the belfrey the Doctor stood in what he believed was his final battle. Daleks were already invading the streets with their mothership right above the tower.

"You are dying, Doctor," the ship buzzed with the news.

"Yes... I'm dying. You've been trying to kill me for centuries, and here I am, dying of old age. If you want something done, do it yourself.," the Doctor tried to humor himself.

"Are you for real trying to be funny on your deathbed?" Liv appeared sitting on the rail, not so pleased with his tactic.

"You're not supposed to be here," he scolded her.

"You were with me on my...deathbed," Liv struggled to say it in one shot as the emotions overwhelmed her as well. "I came to do the same for you."

The Doctor smiled warmly at her, touched by her gesture. Unfortunately, the Daleks had to cut into that moment.

"You will die, and the Time Lords will never return."

The Doctor scoffed. "You still can't work up the courage to shoot me, can you? You're still worried I've got something up my sleeve. Well, you knock yourselves out, boys. I've got nothing this time."

Individual Daleks flew down from the ship shooting at different buildings in the town. Nothing more to do, the Doctor sat down, only waiting. But suddenly, a wide golden crack appeared across the sky. With wide eyes, the Doctor leaned forwards as the familiar golden regeneration energy flew out from the crack.

"Oh my…" Liv slowly got off the rails, doing what everyone else was now doing below.

Staring.

Minerva, who had been trying to get people in the church building, was gaping mouth-opened.

The Doctor saw the energy come directly for him, and then his hands started glowing.

The Daleks had yet to udnerstand what the hell was about to happen. "You will die now, Doctor. This is the end of you. The rules of regeneration are known. You have expended all your lives."

"Oh, it's about to get good," Liv smiled widely and vanished.

The Doctor had himself a little laugh as he rose up from his chair, already feeling the new energy coursing through him. "Sorry, what did you say? Did you mention the rules? Now, listen! Bit of advice. Tell me the truth if you think you know it. Lay down the law, if you're feeling brave, but, Daleks, never, ever tell me the rules!"

And then the Daleks got it. "Emergency! Emergency! The Doctor is regenerating! The Doctor is regenerating!"

Minerva could hear the cries from below and began laughing with delight. She rushed nearer to the tower, so many things rushing through her mind, among those being she would now be changing as well - but it didn't matter. Because all she knew was that her husband would live, and they would get to go home to their son _together_.

As the bell struck twelve, the Doctor grew smug and happy up on the tower. "Oh, look at this," he did a little dance number as if to mock the Daleks above. "Regeneration number 13. We're breaking some serious science here, boys. I tell you what, it's going to be a whopper!"

"Exterminate! Exterminate the Doctor!"

"You think you can stop me now, Daleks? If you want my life... Come... and get it!" the Doctor did a little windmill gesture with his arms and struck a nearing Dalek with his looming regeneration energy.

He repeated the action several times to knock down the Daleks intending coming for him. Down below, Minerva, Clara and even Liv were hurrying more people inside the church building.

"Everyone get inside _now_!" Minerva exclaimed, ushering the last of the kids inside. "Because I know what's about to happen." With a great wide smile, she looked out to the town, "Get 'em Martian," she whispered and closed the door.

The Doctor was, shamefully, having a good time up on the tower. He was expelling energy as much as he could. "Love from Gallifrey, boys!" He finally expelled energy from the head and neck to knock down the large Dalek ship, successfully destroying it.

The boom of the knock killed every Dalek on site, extending even for miles. After a proper while of waiting inside the building, Minerva finally opened the doors. She quietly and slowly walked down the steps as did the rest of the townsfolk. Remnants of fire still crackled in different areas of the town. There were remains of Daleks as well, but other than that there was no more danger left.

As Minerva made way towards the TARDIS, Clara stopped to look up at the belfry which was in plain ruins.

Minerva's hands shook as she pushed open the TARDIS door, missing the dangling telephone outside. She breathed in a little heavier as she caught site of the Doctor's cast-off clothing lnaguidly hanging from the rails.

"Doctor?" she looked around, also seeing a finished bowl of fish fingers and custard on the console. "Eugh," she made a face at the bowl, her nose crinkling.

The soft chuckle from the upper level made her look up instantly. It was the once-again young Doctor, in his common purple attire, coming down for her. "Still not used to it?"

Minerva nearly sobbed of happiness and rushed towards him. With her force she nearly knocked him down, but neither cared. "You haven't changed," she sniffed.

"But it's starting," he sighed, pulling away to see her again. "And I can't stop it now. This is just the reset. Whole new regeneration cycle, ooh…"

"I don't care, because in the end I know you're coming back to me," she draped her arms over his shoulders.

"You'll be changing too now, you know," he reminded, still guilt-filled by that detail.

Minerva chuckled. "That is the least of my concerns. Besides, I think I'm done being ginger for now - whaddya want next?" she winked.

"I love you," the Doctor laughed with her then promptly started kissing her. He walked her up to the console, his arms tightening around her waist. It felt like he was making up for the years she had been gone (from his perspective anyways) and for the years after he grew much too old. He was also very conscious of the fact this would be the last time his lips - _his_ \- kissed hers, because in a couple minutes some new man would be kissing her.

When Clara and Liv walked in, the aliens were deep in their moment that Clara gasped and turned away. "Sorry!" she covered her eyes as if she were still looking at them.

Minerva released the first genuine giggle in 300 years. "We got carried away," she held the Doctor by his lapels, "Didn't we, dear?"

"Give me another moment," the Doctor winked at her, making her laugh and Liv groaned.

"So then...so then everything's okay now?" Clara had finally plucked the courage to look back. Thankfully, there was no more kissing. She was happy to see the Doctor back to his original self.

"Well, as okay as it could be," the Doctor left Minerva to work the controls of the TARDIS. Minerva followed him with her eyes and noticed the brief moments he showed his pain from the stomach. "It all just disappears, doesn't it? Everything you are, gone in a moment, like breath on a mirror. Any moment now, he's a-coming."

"Who's coming?" Clara cluelessly asked, glancing at Liv like she would have the answer for.

"The Doctor," the Time Lord said after setting the TARDIS into motion.

"But...but... you _are_ the Doctor," Clara frowned.

"Of course he is," Minerva said with a shaky voice as the Doctor raised his glowing hands. "And no matter how many times he changes, he will always be."

"But times change... and so must I," he looked at her, and then, out of nowhere, he heard a child's giggle. A little toddler's giggle. "Elias?"

The three women watched him turn around, looking for the toddler that was most certainly nowhere close to their location.

"What's he doing?" Clara asked, concerned as the Time Lord moved for the staircase.

"It's part of the regeneration," Minerva tried to explain without looking so concerned herself. "He's about to...to...regenerate, and his son isn't here to say goodbye to. Doctor?" she reached forwards and gently brought him back with her.

"We all change...Minerva," he said, rather distractedly, "But I would have liked to change after seeing my son one more time."

"I'm so sorry," Minerva caressed his cheek. "But I'm here, and just like the last time, I will be here when you come back."

"I'm not afraid to change," he said. "It's okay if we change - we're all different people all through our lives. And it's okay, because you've got to keep moving, just as long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I promise, I will not forget one line of this. Not one day of this beautiful life I lived with you, with our son, with the Ponds, with Fiorella. I _swear_. I will always remember when the Doctor was me."

He leaned down and kissed Minerva's forehead again, giving her hands a last squeeze before stepping away from her. He leaned on the console for support, while another hand pulled off his bow tie, letting it drop on the floor.

"Clara, step back," Liv mumbled, already taking a hold of Clara's arm.

By this point, Clara had teared up and was refusing to budge. "No, no!"

"Hey...I've seen it before, we can't be near," Liv told her. When Clara tried moving closer to Minerva, Liv pulled her back again. "Not her either - she's going to change too."

"But why-"

A whooshing sound made them both look back in time to catch the Doctor regenerating in the blink of an eye. Where a young-looking Doctor once stood, now was an older man/

Minerva gasped, her tear stained face marked with surprise. The new Doctor slowly stepped towards her, being far taller now he had to lean several inches down to meet her face to face. Minerva recognized that face all too quick. It was the same man who has once come to her rescue against her human mother Sophia Souza. Time was back as it should be, she thought.

The Doctor doubled over in pain, clutching his middle. "Kidneys!" he finally spoke up, loudly too. "I've got new kidneys. I don't like the color!"

"Of your kidneys?" Liv scowled, definitely not what she thought would be his first words.

Clara rocked as the TARDIS began to shift rather violently. "W-What's happening?"

"We're probably crashing! Oh!" the Doctor jerked to the side, landing on his back against the console.

"Into what!?" Clara yelled as she too fell back against the rails.

The Doctor shushed her quick when he saw his hands once again begin to glow. However this time, they glowed not golden...but _silver_. He looked at Minerva then, and saw she was already being invaded by the same silver glow. Nervous looking, Minerva stepped away from them, her breathing loud and shaky.

"I'll wait for you now, darling," the Doctor gave a little smirk as he began to think of what her next appearance would be like.

Minerva tilted her head up and expelled her silver glow that initiated the Moontsay linkage.

All in the meanwhile, Liv had popped across the console in an effort to keep them all from crashing. She was pretty sure their usual pilots weren't going to be in their senses for a while.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

And to be continued in... ** _After All This Time_**! Check it out in my profile! It's up and running!

Thank you all for reading this story once again and continuing with our Minerva in her journey with her Doctor. Honestly, it seems so long ago since we've started with her first story *sniffles*. She's all grown up now :').

 ** _For the Review:_**

I know, I had so much writing that chapter! I'm glad to know it was fun reading too! Yup! I remember you throwing that guess out there and I felt bad I couldn't confirm it lmao. But yup, Minerva unknowingly created an echo of her late human sister, Liv! Well, as we saw, Minerva couldn't quite contain herself with that knowledge. But really, who would at that moment? Of course to them, in their perspectives, 12 was basically a possible future. And unfortunately Elias was not there but it will be made up, I promise! Go on and read the next story to see how it's made up! :)

* * *

Alright guys, once again thank you so much for reading this story and hope you go on to read the next one! Let me know what you thought!


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